Assembly elections expected to be called by UK government if members fail to install a speaker
Northern Ireland assembly members will return to Stormont in a last-gasp bid on Thursday to restore the Northern Ireland executive before fresh assembly elections are called.
It comes after the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, held last-ditch talks with the region’s party leaders to try to restore devolved government and avert an assembly election.
Continue reading...James Cleverly says ‘flex and compromise’ needed on both sides in country that criminalises homosexuality
The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has been criticised for telling gay football fans they should show respect to Qatar, which criminalises their sexuality, when attending the World Cup in the emirate.
Cleverly said Qatar was willing to make compromises to allow people it would normally persecute to attend the tournament, which kicks off on 20 November. On Tuesday, the prominent British LGBTQ campaigner Peter Tatchell claimed he had been arrested in Qatar for highlighting the country’s stance.
Continue reading...UK front pages offer their assessments of the prime minister’s new cabinet and outline the scale of the challenges ahead
Rishi Sunak’s sudden return to the top of British politics and the unveiling of his new cabinet dominates the UK front pages on Wednesday.
The Guardian headlines “PM’s reshuffle gamble on first day in charge” and leads with an image of Rishi Sunak meeting King Charles at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Outspoken comments about schools policy were made before he became king in one-off episode of BBC show
King Charles has criticised the lack of vocational education in schools during his appearance in a special edition of the BBC television show The Repair Shop.
In the one-off episode, to be broadcast by the BBC on Wednesday, he praises the value of technical skills and apprenticeships, and describes the lack of vocational education as a “great tragedy”.
Continue reading...New cabinet is designed to bring down the temperature in the party – but dangers lie ahead
Rishi Sunak has opted for a somewhat cautious cabinet reshuffle, appointing a handful of key allies while trying to splice together the top teams of his two predecessors, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, in an effort to hold the Conservative party together.
The finished product probably does not resemble the cabinet he would have liked to form, nor the one with which he would hope to lead the Tories into the next general election – but it has done the job insofar as it just slightly ruffles most MPs’ feathers rather than alienates a whole wing of the party.
Continue reading...Tax Justice UK calls on Rishi Sunak’s government to introduce five reforms targeting the richest people
Rishi Sunak’s new government could raise up to £37bn to help pay for public services and the energy bills support scheme if it introduced a string of “wealth taxes”, according to tax equality campaigners.
Tax Justice UK called on the government to introduce five tax reforms targeting the very wealthy, who the campaign group said had done “really well financially” during the coronavirus crisis and national lockdowns, rather than seek to save money with further cuts to public services.
Equalising capital gains tax with income tax could raise up to £14bn a year. At present many well-paid people collect their salaries via sole trader or business partnership companies, and can pay capital gains tax at a rate of 20% rather than income tax, which is as high as 45% for earnings over £150,000. CGT also applies to income from renting out a second home, and dividend income on stocks and shares.
Applying national insurance to investment income could raise £8.6bn.
Closing loopholes on inheritance tax could raise £1.4bn.
Scrapping the non-dom regime and taxing their offshore income could generate £3.2bn.
And introducing a 1% tax on super-rich people’s assets over £10m could raise an additional £10bn.
Continue reading...Judges commend Clémentine Schneidermann for simple series capturing neighbour in Wales
A series of portraits documenting the mundane, daily chores of life in lockdown have won one of the world’s most prestigious photography prizes.
The National Portrait Gallery has named French photographer Clémentine Schneidermann as winner of the 2022 Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize for her series Laundry Day. The photographer, who lives and works between Paris and south Wales, wins £15,000.
Continue reading...Former business secretary tells opponents of bill they are fighting a Brexit battle all over again
The former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg launched a scathing attack on opponents of legislation he has tabled to sweep away EU law, telling them they are fighting a Brexit battle all over again.
Rees-Mogg quit his role after Rishi Sunak became prime minister, and less than two hours later returned to the backbenches to see a stand-in, the business minister Dean Russell, opening the second reading of the retained EU law (revocation and reform) bill.
Continue reading...World leaders lauded the significance of Sunak’s victory as the UK’s first prime minister of colour
Rishi Sunak’s arrival in No 10 as Britain’s third prime minister in less than two months drew calls for stability from Europe and continued support from Ukraine, as well as cheers in New Delhi and praise as a “groundbreaking milestone” from the US.
In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wished the UK’s new head of government success in overcoming “all the challenges facing British society and the whole world today”, adding: “I’m ready to continue strengthening the strategic partnership together!”
Continue reading...Braverman reappointed to post after resigning days ago; James Cleverly retained as foreign secretary; Oliver Dowden becomes Cabinet Office minister
The BBC’s political correspondent, Nick Eardley, has just summed things up on BBC Radio 4 like this: “Liz Truss faced one of the most daunting entries of modern times, Mr Sunak faces an even more daunting one – plus he has to pick a cabinet that will unite the party.”
When he becomes PM, Rishi Sunak will be doing many things for the first time in modern politics – he will be the first PM of colour, the first Hindu, the youngest since William Pitt the Younger.
Continue reading...The Labour leader said the shadow cabinet should stick to tried and tested criticism of the new PM
Labour has a stock of well-honed attack lines to use against Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer told his shadow cabinet on Tuesday, though he warned the new prime minister was likely to get “a significant poll bounce” as the UK breathed a sigh of relief over Liz Truss’s departure.
Starmer told the meeting Sunak “has only ever fought one leadership election battle his entire life and got thrashed by Liz Truss. And no wonder he doesn’t want to fight a general election”.
Continue reading...Rees-Mogg resigns as business secretary and Lewis relinquishes justice secretary role as Sunak begins to assemble cabinet
Jacob Rees-Mogg and Brandon Lewis have resigned from the government as Rishi Sunak begins to assemble his new cabinet, with the prime minister also sacking Chloe Smith and Wendy Morton.
Sunak is expected to keep Jeremy Hunt as chancellor, at least for the short term, and return Suella Braverman to the cabinet, as well as handing new posts to key leadership allies Oliver Dowden, Mel Stride and Dominic Raab.
Continue reading...Service says the move is aimed at encourage the return of borrowers who stopped using the library during the Covid pandemic
Libraries in Peterborough are holding a fine amnesty to try to recover 22,000 missing books.
The service, which runs 10 libraries across the area, will not fine anyone for returning overdue books and will clear accounts of debt.
Continue reading...Exclusive: chief of staff said to have wanted ex-PM to sign off resignation honours list featuring her advisers
Mark Fullbrook, Liz Truss’s chief of staff, pushed for many of her advisers to get resignation honours despite her government only being in place for seven weeks, according to multiple sources.
Fullbrook, whose tenure in No 10 has been overshadowed by questions over his private lobbying interests, is expected to depart along with Truss’s other advisers as Rishi Sunak takes her place.
Continue reading...Incident outside National Museum in Doha comes less than a month before start of men’s football World Cup
The human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has been stopped by police in Qatar while staging a protest against the Gulf state’s criminalisation of LGBTQ+ people.
Tatchell’s protest outside the National Museum of Qatar in the capital, Doha, comes less than a month before the start of the Fifa World Cup, which is expected to attract 1.2 million visitors from around the world.
Continue reading...Judge finds woman unlawfully discriminated against in case of transnational marriage abandonment
A woman who was abandoned in Pakistan by her British husband and forcibly separated from her two-year-old daughter has won a high court case against such practice.
In a landmark ruling, a judge found that women in her situation have been unlawfully discriminated against and should be allowed to return to the UK.
Continue reading...New prime minister likely to prioritise unity in offering ministerial jobs, although leading Trussites can expect the chop
Rishi Sunak has pledged to build a cabinet of all the talents but, given the swiftness of the leadership competition, relatively little has been briefed about his potential cabinet.
His team say no roles have been promised to any backers and Sunak was in the enviable position as the frontrunner of not needing to promise roles to anyone.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak to meet monarch after Liz Truss chairs her final cabinet meeting at 9am
I’m Helen Sullivan, with for the next while. If you have questions or see news we may have missed, you can get in touch on Twitter here.
We’re expected to hear from Nadhim Zahawi, who made a dizzying U-turn from supporting Johnson to supporting Sunak yesterday, on Sky News at 07.05 this morning.
Continue reading...New Tory leader says he will put an end to party’s psychodrama and focus on ‘policies not personalities’
Rishi Sunak warned the Conservatives it was time to “unite or die” as he prepared to enter No 10 as the first person of colour to become UK prime minister.
He said he would put an end to the Conservative psychodrama and vowed to prioritise “policies not personalities”, starting with a cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday . His allies briefed he would reach across the party, in stark contrast to the divisive purges of Liz Truss or Boris Johnson.
Continue reading...Practicals may be sorted, yet Truss will face her most difficult task, carving out role on Tory backbench as former PM
While Liz Truss’s official spokesperson insisted she was still “working from Downing Street” on Monday, in reality she has just one more real task left from what will be precisely 50 days as prime minister: departing from the role.
In a chronology now familiar to UK politics watchers, after chairing a farewell cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, the much used No 10 lectern will be brought outside for Truss to make a final, brief statement, at about 10.15am.
Continue reading...