Category Archives: UK news

Nicola Bulley death: man arrested over alleged malicious communications

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Detention of 34-year-old followed examination of footage taken from within police cordon

A man has been arrested in connection with footage shot from inside a police cordon on the day the body of Nicola Bulley was found. Lancashire constabulary said the footage was then posted online.

The 34-year-old man from Kidderminster in Worcestershire was arrested on suspicion of malicious communications offences and perverting the course of justice in connection with the investigation to find Bulley, the force said.

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Elle Edwards: three people arrested over Christmas Eve killing

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Thomas Waring charged with possession of a prohibited weapon and two others arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder

Three people have been arrested in connection with the killing of the beautician Elle Edwards inside a pub in Wallasey on Christmas Eve.

Edwards, 26, was shot in the head shortly before midnight as she celebrated with friends at the Lighthouse pub in Wirral last year. She later died in hospital.

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Firearms officer ‘secretly filmed sex and shared video with colleagues’

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West Midlands police officer said to have filmed encounters at a Christmas party without women’s knowledge

A firearms officer who allegedly secretly filmed himself having sex with two women before sharing the footage online with his colleagues is under criminal investigation, it has been reported.

The West Midlands police officer was said to have filmed the encounters at a Christmas party without the women’s knowledge before sending the videos to members of his team via social media, Channel 4 News said.

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Parents in England spending up to 80% of pay on childcare

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Two other studies also show there are insufficient places in half of the country’s councils

The scale of the childcare crisis in England has been exposed by new data showing some parents face spending as much as 80% of their take-home pay on childcare while others struggle to find a provider because of supply gaps in large parts of the country.

A study by the thinktank Nesta, seen by the Guardian, shows how hard it is for families in different parts of England to afford to pay for someone to look after their children while they work. Meanwhile, two other studies – one by the children’s charity Coram and one by the Labour party – show there are insufficient places in half of the country’s local authorities, with demand now more than double the country’s supply.

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Rishi Sunak faces clash with EU on ‘unlawful’ asylum plans

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EU commissioner Ylva Johansson warns new migration bill breaches international law, potentially reigniting hostilities

Rishi Sunak faces a fresh clash with the EU after a senior comissioner warned that his contentious new migration bill will be in breach of human rights laws.

The intervention comes as the prime minister prepares to meet French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, where he is expected to be asked to guarantee regular payments to stop boats carrying asylum seekers from crossing the Channel.

Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, was accused by Sunak at prime minister’s question time of being “another lefty lawyer” trying to block efforts to curb migration.

MPs accused the prime minister of forsaking women smuggled for sex on International Women’s Day by pushing forward a bill that undermines trafficking laws.

The BBC was dragged into another political row over impartiality after Gary Lineker, the Match of the Day host, refused to backdown after comparing the government’s rhetoric to 1930s Germany.

The United Nations’ refugee agency warned it cannot step in as a “substitute for the right to seek asylum” after the government said it would expand its partnership with the organisation after outlawing small boat crossings.

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Clive Lewis calls for UK to negotiate Caribbean slavery reparations

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Labour MP says Rishi Sunak should talk to region’s leaders after Trevelyan family announcements

The Labour MP Clive Lewis has called on Rishi Sunak to enter negotiations with Caribbean leaders on paying reparations for Britain’s role in slavery, following the historic announcements by the Trevelyan family.

Speaking at a parliamentary debate on promoting financial security in the Caribbean, Lewis said the issue of reparations could not be dismissed as an obsession among a small group of “so-called woke extremists”.

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Braverman says it will be ‘very clear’ to voters at next election if ‘stop the boats’ plan has worked – UK politics live

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Latest updates: home secretary says ‘it’s vital we fix this problem’ as Rishi Sunak prepares to face Keir Starmer at PMQs

Suella Braverman has denied the government is breaking the law with its illegal migration bill in interviews this morning. But, as my colleague Aletha Adu reports, Braverman struggled to clarify if the Olympian Sir Mo Farah would have been deported as soon as he turned 18 years old under the proposed regulations.

Good morning. When Rishi Sunak made five pledges in January, four of them looked relatively easy to meet, and one of them looked impossible. He promised to “pass new laws to stop small boats, making sure that if you come to this country illegally, you are detained and swiftly removed”.

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International Women’s Day 2023: events around the world – live

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Latest updates from the UK and across the globe as world marks International Women’s Day 2023

This is a really excellent comment piece from Nilanjana Bhowmick who argues that in India – like in much of the world – International Women’s Day has been captured by commerce.

IWD is not a spa voucher people!

Is it any wonder that Indian women end up doing almost 10 times more unpaid caregiving than Indian men? If International Women’s Day (IWD) is for taking stock of gender inequalities, let’s do that. If the government was interested in bringing change, it would announce women-friendly work policies. If businesses were serious, they would take a good look at how gender-responsive their organisations are, and make changes.

In Indian society, businesses have managed to dumb down an important day for putting out calls of action to demand political, economic and social equality for women.

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Braverman denies small boats plan breaks law after being asked about Mo Farah

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Home secretary struggles to clarify if Olympian would have been deported as soon as he turned 18 under proposals

Suella Braverman has denied the government is breaking the law with controversial measures in which asylum seekers arriving in the UK via small boats will be detained and deported, despite telling Conservatives there was a more than 50% chance the plans may be incompatible with the European convention on human rights.

The home secretary on Wednesday struggled to clarify if the Olympian Sir Mo Farah would have been deported as soon as he turned 18 years old under the proposed regulations, or why he would not have been deported, as he was trafficked to the UK aged nine.

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‘Stop the boats’: Sunak’s anti-asylum slogan echoes Australia’s harsh policy

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In Australia, hostile rhetoric has fuelled a toxic public debate and sought to dehumanise people fleeing harm

“Stop the boats.” The white-on-red slogan on Rishi Sunak’s podium on Tuesday was – word for word – the slogan used by Tony Abbott to win the Australian prime ministership a decade ago.

To Australian audiences, so much of the rhetoric emerging from the UK over its small boats policy is reminiscent of two decades of a toxic domestic debate. A succession of Australian prime ministers have led the rhetorical charge against asylum seekers, insisting that their arrival is an issue of “national security” and “border protection”. They are “illegals”, “queue jumpers” and “terrorists”, Australians have been told, while people-smugglers are the “scum of the earth”.

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Heathrow told to cut passenger charges in move that could lower fares

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Decision by Civil Aviation Authority comes despite airport having argued for higher fees

Heathrow airport has been ordered to cut average passenger charges by about 20% next year, in a move that could translate to lower ticket prices for travellers.

The decision by the UK regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) comes despite Heathrow having argued for higher fees, which are charged to airlines and are used to fund baggage handling, security and other costs across the airport’s terminals.

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Cardiff car crash: police confirm four separate missing persons reports made

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Gwent and South Wales police also confirm more than 46 hours passed between last sighting and wreckage being found

Two police forces heavily criticised for their response to a crash that killed three young people and left two seriously injured have confirmed more than 46 hours passed between the group’s last sighting and their wrecked car being found and that four separate missing persons reports were made to them.

Gwent and South Wales police also confirmed that the last sighting of the car was only about 2.5 miles from where it was found, which will raise more questions over why it took so long for the five to be discovered.

The last confirmed sighting of the five people was at 2am on Saturday in Pentwyn, about 2.5 miles from where they were found.

The crash happened during the early hours of Saturday, with the exact time to be confirmed by the investigation, including by studying CCTV and automatic number plate recognition footage.

The first missing report was made to Gwent police at 7.34pm on Saturday; further missing person reports were made to Gwent police at 7.43pm and 9.32pm. Another missing person report was made to South Wales police at 5.37pm on Sunday.

At 11.50pm on Sunday the police helicopter was asked to search an area of Cardiff, which resulted in the vehicle being located in a wooded area off the A48.

Gwent police officers, who were in the area conducting inquiries, discovered the Volkswagen Tiguan vehicle at 12.15am on Monday.

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UN refugee agency ‘profoundly concerned’ by UK’s illegal migration bill saying it amounts to an asylum ban – politics live

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UNHCR says bill extinguishes the right to seek refugee protection in the UK for those who arrive irregularly

Downing Street has said that Rishi Sunak is going to Dover to meet frontline officers dealing with small boat crossings. He will then return to London for a press conference later in the afternoon.

One of the questions raised by Rishi Sunak’s small boats bill – or illegal migration bill, to give it its formal name – is to what extent ministers believe it will work, and to what extent they are not that bothered about whether it works because they believe that, if it fails, they will be able to use this in election campaign against Labour.

Unlike Labour who have voted against taking action on this issue, this government has a plan to break the business model of people ­smugglers.

A plan to do what’s fair for those at home and those who have a legitimate claim to asylum – a plan to take back control of our borders once and for all.

Labour and others who oppose these measures are betraying hard-working Brits up and down the country - they don’t have any answers themselves but they will still seek to block us in parliament.

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Schools in England seeing more pupil absences on Fridays

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Change in parents’ work patterns since Covid may have led to pupils staying home

Schools in England are seeing “a huge amount” of pupil absence on Fridays with children staying at home with their parents following a shift in attitudes post-Covid, MPs have been told.

Dame Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, told the education committee that persistent absence from schools is “one of the issues of our age” and called for a “razor sharp focus” on the problem.

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UK gender pay gap for higher-educated parents has grown since 1970s – study

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Research finds ‘motherhood penalty’ is greater than 40 years ago, with mothers making 69% of fathers’ wages

The pay gap between mothers and fathers with post-school education has increased since the late 1970s in the UK, according to research.

As the world marks International Women’s Day on Wednesday, research from the University of Kent has found that the gap in pay between higher-educated mothers and fathers – the “motherhood penalty” – is greater now than 40 years ago.

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UK will miss out on EU’s ‘massive’ increase in arms spending for Ukraine

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Only EU and Norwegian firms will be able to take advantage of joint procurement agreement, says leaked paper

Britain’s defence industry is to be blocked from profiting from the EU’s vast increase in spending on arms for Ukraine, under a leaked plan seen by the Guardian.

A “massive order” of ammunition, ranging from small arms to 155mm artillery rounds, is being prepared in Brussels but only EU and Norwegian manufacturers will be able to take advantage.

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Greggs to open 150 new stores despite rising staff and energy costs

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Britain’s biggest bakery chain says it expects cost inflation of between 9% and 10% this year

Greggs has said higher wage and energy bills are weighing on its profits but it plans to push ahead with opening 150 new stores this year as well as trialling a 24-hour drive-through outlet.

Britain’s biggest bakery chain, known for its sausage rolls and steak bakes, said costs had risen by 9% last year and would continue to be a challenge in the year ahead.

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1922 Committee chair Sir Graham Brady to stand down as MP at next election

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Powerful voice of Tory backbenchers says he will no longer contest Altrincham and Sale West seat

Sir Graham Brady, whose role as chair of the Conservative party’s 1922 Committee saw him usher three prime ministers out of Downing Street in four years, is to step down as an MP at the next election.

The most powerful backbencher of his political generation, Brady released a statement to his local newspaper saying it was time to “bring this fascinating and fulfilling chapter of my life to a close”.

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UK shoppers slash spending as price rises and energy bills bite

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February figures from BRC highlight impact of cost of living crisis on British economy before budget

UK consumers sharply cut back their spending in February as soaring living costs damaged household finances, retailers have warned, despite strong sales of jewellery and fragrances for Valentine’s Day.

Highlighting the impact of the cost of living crisis on the economy before Jeremy Hunt’s budget next week, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said sky-high energy bills and the rising cost of a weekly shop were forcing shoppers to cut back.

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