Category Archives: UK news

James Cleverly rebuffs Australian minister over UK colonialism remarks

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Foreign secretary rejects suggestion by Penny Wong that Britain needs to do more to confront its colonial past

James Cleverly has rejected suggestions Britain needs to do more to confront its colonial past, pointing out that he is “the black foreign secretary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain”.

He was responding to questions after a speech by the Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, while on a visit to London this week in which she said Britain needed to reflect on its past.

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Rishi Sunak says people arriving in UK illegally will be deported ‘within days’

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PM says he wants new law barring people arriving without valid documents from claiming asylum

Rishi Sunak has said new laws will mean people arriving in the UK without valid documents will be deported “within days”, with asylum claims rejected and migrants returned.

The prime minister also said he was committed to the Rwanda deportation policy, despite legal challenges, replying “yes” when asked if it would ever go ahead.

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Jared O’Mara ‘thoroughly rotten’, prosecutor in fraud trial says

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Former Labour MP came up with ‘a series of scams’ to fund ‘galloping’ cocaine habit, court told

A former Labour MP accused of expenses fraud has been described as “thoroughly inadequate”, “thoroughly rotten” and “stuffing the parliamentary payroll with mates and cronies” who did no relevant work.

Jared O’Mara came up with “a series of scams” to help fund his “galloping” cocaine habit, prosecutor Richard Wright KC told a jury on Thursday.

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Jane Hill and Ben Brown among anchors axed as BBC merges news channels

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Insiders say departure of popular BBC News presenters – with Martine Croxall also going – could prompt ageism row

Some of the BBC News channel’s most famous faces, including Jane Hill, Ben Brown and Martine Croxall, have been axed before the launch this spring of a channel that combines international and domestic news.

The trio have become familiar to UK viewers during times of political and economic turmoil and their departure could prompt a row about ageism, according to BBC insiders.

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Jo Johnson resigns as director of firm linked to Adani allegations

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Former UK PM’s brother quits board of Elara Capital days after it was accused of using funds to manipulate share prices

Jo Johnson, the younger brother of the former prime minister Boris Johnson, has resigned as a director of a London-based investment bank allegedly linked to the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s crisis-ridden business empire.

Lord Johnson, a former Conservative minister who was given a peerage by his brother in 2020, resigned from the board of Elara Capital on Wednesday just days after Elara was accused of using Mauritius-based funds to manipulate the share price of Adani-linked companies and obscure their ultimate ownership.

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Dyson among British entrepreneurs who own UK property via overseas companies

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James Dyson and Tina Green, wife of Philip Green, among British business figures on register of overseas entities

Billionaires and business figures including James Dyson and Tina Green own UK property via overseas companies, according to a new register aimed at improving transparency.

The tycoons feature on a list that a Guardian investigation revealed last week includes the racing driver Lewis Hamilton, the Chinese government, a string of Gulf royals and at least 20 donors to the Tory party.

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Ratings sink and obstacles amass as Sunak completes first 100 days as PM

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Advisers argue he has made progress, but the new intake are frustrated and voters believe he is ‘out of touch’

Rishi Sunak has now survived 100 days as prime minister – a pretty small feat by historical standards but twice the length of his predecessor’s term. But the circumstances he inherited – the lack of mandate, plummeting polls and an economy in freefall – have deeply constrained what he is able to do with his time in office.

Inside No 10, key advisers argue that Sunak has already made significant progress, that the economy is starting to recover, that he has set out a clear stall with five pledges on inflation, national debt, the economy, immigration and the NHS, and that he has largely taken the Tory party infighting off the front pages.

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‘A serious threat’: calls grow for urgent review of damage done by wood burning stoves

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Government plan to educate owners and encourage fines not enough to effectively tackle air pollution

• Study links air pollution to mental ill-health

Politicians and campaigners have called for an urgent review of wood-burning stoves, which cause large amounts of pollution in urban areas.

The calls follow the admission by the environment secretary that the government had set weaker air pollution targets than it would like. The admission came as she announced a new environmental plan for England that held back from banning wood-burning stoves and settled instead for “educating” people on their use.

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Somerset estate offers rare peek into life of beavers with launch of online tour

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National Trust project shows family home of ‘nature’s engineers’ and how they have improved the environment for other wildlife

They can be seen chugging around their watery domain like small furry tugboats, gnawing away at saplings or nuzzling up to each other. The sound of babbling water and birdsong provides a pleasing soundtrack.

A new online tour is being launched on Thursday of an enclosure on the Holnicote estate in Somerset that is home to a family of five beavers. In what is billed as the first of its kind, the tour allows viewers to navigate through the 2.7-acre Exmoor enclosure where two adult beavers and their three offspring live and work.

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Weaker economy, higher inflation: Bank of England’s dilemma

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Differing experts have urged the Monetary Policy Committee to both cut interest rates and to raise them

Turn up. Take the temperature of the economy. Raise interest rates. That’s the been the pattern from the responsible technocrats at the Bank of England for more than a year now – and they show no sign of stopping.

Between the depths of the global financial crisis in March 2009 and the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, interest rates were changed only five times, and three of those were in response to unexpected shocks: one after the Brexit vote in 2016, and two at the arrival of the pandemic in 2020. There was one period of more than seven years when interest rates were pegged at 0.5%.

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Children to be housed closer to family in overhaul of England’s social care system

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Changes in children’s social care, including earlier help for families, fall short of ‘full reset’ called for by adviser

Ministers are to pledge that children taken into care in England will be placed close to their family and friends rather than being housed hundreds of miles away, under what is described as an ambitious overhaul of the struggling social services system.

The commitment on care placements is one of a series of proposals aimed at reforming what the government has acknowledged is a children’s social care system too often failing to meet the needs of vulnerable families and children.

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Rishi Sunak plans US trip with Northern Ireland high on agenda

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UK officials in flurry of diplomacy seeking agreement with EU over protocol, but play down talk that deal is close

Rishi Sunak is considering a trip to visit Joe Biden in the US as talks between the UK and EU over the Northern Ireland protocol intensify.

The prime minister’s officials are drawing up plans for him to travel to Washington in the coming weeks to discuss a range of topics, including Ukraine, economic security and technology.

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Ministers and unions dig in amid widespread strike action across UK

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Little prospect of breakthrough as strikes hit schools, trains, universities and border checks across country

Unions and the government appeared as far apart as ever, after Wednesday’s widespread strike action closed thousands of schools across England and Wales.

Striking workers from participating unions held rallies in cities including Bristol, Brighton, Birmingham and London, as teachers, university staff, rail workers and civil servants stopped work to demand better pay.

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No 10 refuses to deny Sunak was given informal warning about Raab’s behaviour before he made him deputy PM – live

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Dominic Raab under increasing pressure as civil servants’ union calls for him to be suspended until bullying inquiry concludes

MPs have been told that paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland have coerced young people with drug debts to take part in rioting, PA Media reports. PA says:

A community worker gave an example of a user’s debt being reduced by £80 for doing so.

Megan Phair, coordinator of the Journey to Empowerment Programme and member of the Stop Attacks Forum, said both loyalist and dissident republican groups use the tactic to force people on to the streets.

It’s time for the prime minister to come out of hiding and face the music. The public deserves to know the truth about what he knew and when, including the full disclosure of any advice given to him by the Cabinet Office.

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Disruption across UK as strikes hit schools, trains, universities and border checks – as it happened

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UK public warned of ‘significant disruption’ from strikes involving teachers, civil servants, Border Force staff and train drivers

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, speaking from a teachers’ picket line in Warwick, said:

I think Gillian Keegan [the education secretary] is hoping our strike is ineffective and people won’t do it again.

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Met under pressure not to rehire retired officers with misconduct record

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Mayor says officers with misconduct proven against them during career should not return to force

The Metropolitan police are under pressure to stop inviting back retired officers whoduring their career had action taken against them for misconduct.

Under a scheme to rehire recently retired officers to help plug gaps in the ranks of Britain’s largest force, 253 people who had action taken against them after misconduct proceedings have been asked to rejoin, along with 99 who retired while under investigation.

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Kaylea Titford’s father admits he heard her screaming night before she died

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Alun Titford on trial over death of disabled daughter in Wales

A father accused of killing his disabled daughter by allowing her to become morbidly obese admitted he heard her screaming the night before she died.

Giving evidence in his trial at Mold crown court, Alun Titford, 45, said he did not think there was anything unusual about the screams coming from Kaylea’s downstairs bedroom in Powys, Mid Wales, on 9 October 2020.

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No 10 refuses to say whether Sunak knew of informal complaints over Raab

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PM not aware of formal complaints at time of appointment, says spokesperson, as Starmer attacks ‘addiction to sleaze and scandal’

Downing Street has repeatedly refused to say whether Rishi Sunak knew of any informal complaints about Dominic Raab’s behaviour before making him a minister, after Keir Starmer attacked the government’s “addiction to sleaze and scandal”.

Speaking after a session of prime minister’s questions in which the Labour leader tackled Sunak over a series of ethical and conduct issues, the prime minister’s press secretary refused to be drawn on possible complaints about Raab before he was made justice secretary and deputy prime minister.

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Darktrace boss defends UK cybersecurity firm amid short-seller attacks

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Embattled firm to launch £75m share buyback to bolster stock price after criticism of sales and marketing

The chief executive of Darktrace has launched a staunch defence of the embattled cybersecurity company saying it is run with the “greatest integrity”, after allegations of irregular sales, marketing and accounting practices raised by a US-based hedge fund.

Poppy Gustafsson published a 1,200 word defence of the company she co-founded in 2013, after its share price collapsed to a record low after the publication of a highly critical 70-page report by New York-based Quintessential Capital Management (QCM) on Tuesday.

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Thérèse Coffey admits UK can’t achieve air pollution target advised by experts

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Environment secretary sets lower 10-year objective for cleaner air but researchers say their goal is reachable with stronger action

The government cannot achieve the air quality improvements advised by medical experts, so has set its targets lower for the next 10 years, the environment secretary has admitted as she unveiled a new environmental plan.

Thérèse Coffey said on Tuesday: “We have cleaner air. I want it to be even cleaner. Now, I would have loved to have made our target to achieve 10 micrograms [of fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, per cubic metre of air] by 2030, not 2040. Many parts of the country already enjoy this, but the evidence shows us that with the best will in the world we cannot achieve that everywhere by the end of the decade, particularly in London.”

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