Category Archives: UK news

UK ban on laughing gas sale or possession poised to go ahead

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Suella Braverman pushing plan to change law on nitrous oxide as part of crackdown on antisocial behaviour

The Home Office is preparing to introduce a long-mooted ban on the sale or possession of nitrous oxide, one of the most popular recreational drugs among young people, as part of a wider crackdown on antisocial behaviour.

The plan is being pushed by the home secretary, Suella Braverman, according to officials, and would lead to people found with laughing gas, which is usually inhaled from balloons filled via small metal cylinders, facing prosecution.

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UK climate minister received donations from fuel and aviation companies

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Exclusive: Graham Stuart received £12,000 towards campaign from fuel distributor and aviation consultant

The UK climate minister – who recently stated not all fossil fuels were the “spawn of the devil” – received campaign donations from one of the largest fuel distributors in the UK as well as an aviation consultant and recruiter, it has emerged.

Graham Stuart, Conservative MP for Beverley and Holderness, was appointed climate minister by Rishi Sunak in September. He has responsibility for net zero strategy and low carbon generation, and is the Commons lead for clean heat.

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At least 24 civil servants involved in complaints against Dominic Raab, say sources

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Exclusive: Insiders believe depth of inquiry and severity of some claims means deputy PM will struggle to keep job

Dominic Raab is facing a much broader bullying investigation than originally anticipated with at least 24 civil servants involved in formal complaints against him, the Guardian understands.

Government insiders believe the depth of the inquiry and severity of some of the claims means the deputy prime minister will struggle to survive in post, and throws further doubt on Rishi Sunak’s judgment for having him in such a senior position.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or by emailing jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.

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Rishi Sunak has never paid a penalty to HMRC, No 10 says, amid growing pressure over Nadhim Zahawi – as it happened

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Rishi Sunak has welcomed Germany’s decision to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

There is more coverage of the German decision on our Ukraine live blog.

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Trans woman guilty of raping two women remanded in female prison in Scotland

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Politicians, campaigners and UN special rapporteur concerned by case of Isla Bryson, who offended before she had transitioned

Politicians, campaigners and a UN special rapporteur have all expressed grave concerns that a transgender woman found guilty of raping two women before transitioning is being remanded in a female prison.

Opponents of the Scottish government’s gender recognition reforms – which the UK government has blocked from going for royal assent because of “safety issues for women and children” – said that the case vindicated their concerns about lack of safeguards in the bill.

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Man arrested on suspicion of assaulting Matt Hancock on London Underground

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Police say 61-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting ex-minister at Westminster station

A man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting Matt Hancock on the London Underground.

The former health secretary and reality TV contestant is not thought to have been hurt in the incident, but his spokesperson said it was an “unpleasant encounter”. The alleged assault began on Tuesday morning at Westminster station before continuing on a busy tube train.

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Asylum-seeking families with children could face removal from UK to Rwanda

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Immigration minister Robert Jenrick says ‘not necessarily a bar’ to families being sent to African country

Families with children seeking asylum in the UK are being considered for forced removal to Rwanda, according to a Home Office minister.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told an evidence session at parliament’s women and equalities committee on Wednesday that, while there were no plans to remove unaccompanied child asylum seekers to the east African country, families with children are being considered for removal.

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‘He should resign’: Stratford-on-Avon constituents on Zahawi tax scandal

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Residents of Warwickshire town united in condemnation of local Tory MP’s tax affairs

The market town of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire has been a Conservative stronghold for well over a hundred years, with its current MP, Nadhim Zahawi, securing a majority of about 20,000 in three successive general elections.

But it was difficult to find support for the beleaguered MP on the streets of the town on Wednesday, and most local people said they thought he should resign over the scandal around his tax affairs.

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First UK industrial action against Amazon is ‘making an impact’, says GMB

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Managers said to be covering for striking staff, though firm insists action has not disrupted activity

Workers at Amazon’s huge Coventry depot described the “stressful” conditions inside as they staged a historic strike to demand pay of £15 an hour – the first time the corporation has faced industrial action in the UK.

The local GMB organiser Amanda Gearing said the action on Wednesday was “making an impact”, despite Amazon’s insistence that work was proceeding as usual inside the high-walled warehouse.

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Mother wins legal battle over tribunal’s refusal to say why son’s killer was discharged from hospital

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Teresa Maher’s son, Kyle, was killed by Richard Wilson-Michael in supported accommodation in London in 2017

A woman has won a legal battle against a mental health tribunal over its refusal to provide her with the the reasons for releasing her son’s killer into the community

In a boost to open justice, a high court judge ruled that the tribunal unlawfully rejected requests for information from Teresa Maher, who feared that her son’s killer still posed a risk.

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‘Potentially risky’ people being released after years on remand, watchdog warns

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Growing number of offenders on remand in England and Wales not offered support before being freed, prisons inspector says

Potentially dangerous prisoners are spending years on remand before disappearing into the community after their release without being properly monitored, the prisons watchdog has warned.

Charlie Taylor, HM’s chief inspector of prisons, said a restructuring of probation services last year failed to address the growing number of offenders held on remand who are not offered support before being freed.

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Row growing after third historic rail bridge filled in with concrete

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National Highways faces third intervention by a local authority over infilling, after burying Congham bridge in Norfolk in tonnes of concrete

A controversial practice by the government’s roads agency of burying historic railway bridges in concrete has been dealt a fresh blow after a third council intervened over another infilled structure.

King’s Lynn and West Norfolk council has told National Highways it must apply for retrospective planning permission if it wants to retain hundreds of tonnes of aggregate and concrete it used to submerge Congham bridge, a few miles east of King’s Lynn.

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British opera singer creates work to reveal humanity of enslaved ancestors

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Insurrection: A Work in Progress by Peter Brathwaite will highlight folk traditions as a form of resistance

A leading British opera singer is developing a work based on the music of his enslaved ancestors in Barbados as a way of examining complex historical events and highlighting forms of resistance.

Peter Brathwaite and the Royal Opera House (ROH) will present Insurrection: A Work in Progress to audiences in March, inviting feedback from the public that will shape the opera’s next stages.

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Celebrities call on UK banks to stop financing new oil, gas and coalfields

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Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and Mark Rylance add their voices to Richard Curtis’s Make My Money Matter campaign

Famous names including Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and Mark Rylance have joined activists and businesses in calling on the UK’s big five banks to stop financing new oil, gas and coal expansion.

Make My Money Matter, a campaign set up by Richard Curtis, the screenwriter, director and Comic Relief co-founder, has written to the chief executives of HSBC, Barclays, Santander, NatWest and Lloyds to urge these banks to “stop financing fossil fuel expansion”.

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Labour asks why Treasury unit let sanctioned oligarch bring UK libel case

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Key Putin ally, who founded Wagner mercenaries, attempted to ‘subvert sanctions and silence journalist’

The Treasury must explain how the Russian founder of a mercenary army was given permission to circumvent sanctions, to attempt to silence a British journalist, Labour has said.

In a letter to Jeremy Hunt, seen by the Guardian, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Pat McFadden, said that No 11 had to say why it had granted the permission and whether similar allowances had been made for other sanctioned oligarchs to use libel lawsuits.

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‘He doesn’t care’: Rishi Sunak is failing nurses and NHS, say voters in Stoke

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In a focus group, residents of Stoke-on-Trent describe the health service as an ‘absolute mess’ and say the PM has just disappeared

Rishi Sunak should pour money and staff into the “crippled” NHS, and reward striking nurses with better pay, Conservative 2019 voters from a “red wall” constituency have said.

Stoke-on-Trent residents in a focus group organised by More in Common for the Guardian described the health service as “struggling”, being in an “absolute mess” and “on its backside”, with all members able to describe just how difficult it is to get an appointment. On top of this, the locals expressed a huge amount of sympathy for striking health workers, who are “worked to the bone”.

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Two missing Britons killed in Ukraine while evacuating citizens from Soledar

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Foreign Office confirms Chris Parry, 28, and Andrew Bagshaw, 47, killed carrying out humanitarian work on frontline

Two Britons missing in Ukraine were killed while trying to carry out a humanitarian evacuation in the east of the country, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

Chris Parry, 28, and his colleague Andrew Bagshaw, 47 – who held dual UK and New Zealand citizenship – had been attempting the evacuation of an elderly woman from Soledar when their car was hit by an artillery shell, Bagshaw’s family said in a statement.

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No 10 declines to say Sunak confident Zahawi has always told him truth about his tax affairs – UK politics live

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Downing Street spokesperson also says inquiry into former chancellor’s affairs to be ‘conducted swiftly’

There are two urgent questions in the Commons later. At 12.30pm Caroline Lucas (Green) is asking one about the child asylum seekers who have gone missing from hotel accommodation provided by the Home Office, and that will be followed by Ben Bradshaw (Lab) asking one about the Church of England’s stance on equal marriage.

After those are over Damian Hinds, the justice minister, will deliver a statement about the probation inspectorate.

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Almost one in 10 local bus services axed over last year in Great Britain

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Exclusive: cuts come despite government’s levelling up promise to improve transport connectivity

Almost one in 10 local bus services were axed in Great Britain in the last year despite government promises to improve local transport connectivity being a key pillar of its levelling up agenda.

The reductions – equivalent to more than 1,000 registered routes – follow the publication of a national bus strategy for England in 2021, aimed at improving routes and service frequencies. The figures suggest the “bus back better” strategy, conceived under the then prime minister Boris Johnson, has failed to halt the decline in local bus services.

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MPs to recall Royal Mail boss to parliament to face questions

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Simon Thompson has been summoned back over accuracy of evidence he gave to committee

The chief executive of Royal Mail is to face a rare recall to parliament to face questions over the accuracy of evidence he gave to a committee of MPs.

Simon Thompson, Royal Mail’s boss, has been summoned back by the business, energy and industrial strategy committee, after giving evidence in a sometimes testy exchange last week.

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