Category Archives: UK news

Scandals dent trust in Danish leadership contender Søren Pape Poulsen

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Conservative People’s Party leader takes poll hit after undisclosed meetings and accusations about husband

One of the leading contenders to become Denmark’s next prime minister has stumbled in the polls after revelations of undisclosed meetings and accusations that his husband had made up family links to a former president of the Dominican Republic.

Søren Pape Poulsen, the leader of Denmark’s Conservative People’s Party, announced last week that his marriage was over after it emerged that his husband, Josue Medina Vásquez Poulsen, had no biological relationship to a former president of the Dominican Republic whom he had claimed as an uncle.

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Gordon Ramsay gin ad banned over nutritional claims

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Scottish producer Eden Mill made claims about ingredients on its Instagram and Facebook pages

An ad campaign for celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s new gin has been banned for making nutritional claims that are not allowed under UK marketing rules.

Ramsay, known for his restaurant empire and shows such as Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen, launched his first gin last year in partnership with the Scottish producer Eden Mill.

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‘Alien goldfish’ may have been unique mollusc, say scientists

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Researchers think they may have solved enduring mystery of where Typhloesus wellsi sits on tree of life

The mystery of a bizarre creature dubbed the “alien goldfish”, which has baffled fossil experts for decades, may have been solved, according to scientists who say the animal appears to have been some sort of mollusc.

Typhloesus wellsi lived about 330m years ago and was discovered in the Bear Gulch Limestone fossil site in Montana in the late 1960s, with the remains of other species subsequently identified.

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Economists call for radical shakeup of Bank’s interest rate committee

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MPC is dominated by people with little ‘real world’ knowledge and prone to groupthink, says ex-committee member

Members of the Bank of England’s interest-rate setting body should be appointed by the devolved administrations and by English MPs in order to counter groupthink, a former member of Threadneedle Street’s monetary policy committee has said.

David Blanchflower said the committee was dominated by people with little knowledge of the “real world”, and greater diversity of thought was needed to ensure the interests of ordinary people were reflected.

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Liz Truss may face Lords rebellion over Northern Ireland bill

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Exclusive: about 50 peers due to meet on Wednesday morning to discuss how to amend or halt proposed legislation

Liz Truss is facing a potential House of Lords rebellion over proposed legislation to rip up part of the Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland amid concerns that it gives ministers “dictatorial” powers to pen and pass laws without scrutiny.

About 50 Conservative, Labour and cross party peers are due to meet on Wednesday morning to discuss how they can amend or halt the Northern Ireland bill which has already passed through the House of Commons.

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Bring back eviction ban or face ‘catastrophic’ homelessness crisis, ministers told

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Sir Bob Kerslake calls on government to protect at-risk tenants as it did during pandemic

The former head of the civil service has warned of a looming “catastrophic” homelessness crisis caused by the cost of living unless the government reintroduces the eviction ban that protected tenants during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sir Bob Kerslake, who chairs the Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, said a failure to act “could see this become a homelessness as well as an economic crisis and the results could be catastrophic; with all the good achieved in reducing street homelessness since the pandemic lost, and any hope of the government meeting its manifesto pledge to end rough sleeping by 2024 gone”.

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Adult social care in England is in crisis, say Tory council leaders

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Warning of £3.7bn funding shortfall over next 18 months piles pressure on Liz Truss after campaign pledges

Adult social care in England is in serious crisis, Tory council leaders have warned the government, as it faces a £3.7bn funding gap and a growing staffing shortage that has brought many local care providers to the brink of collapse.

The intervention by the County Councils Network, which represents 36 mainly Tory-run authorities, comes amid widespread local government concern over the increasing fragile state of social care. Care costs have accelerated recently, fuelled by unexpected wage and energy inflation.

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London council could seize oligarchs’ homes for affordable housing

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Exclusive: Westminster looking at compulsory purchase orders to tackle laundering of ‘dirty money’

Homes acquired with “dirty money” in the richest parts of London could be seized and turned into affordable housing under plans to crack down on oligarchs using Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Mayfair “to rinse their money”.

Labour-controlled Westminster city council is examining the use of compulsory purchase orders in extreme cases where it finds properties are not being used for their stated purpose, as part of a push to “combat the capital’s reputation as the European centre for money laundering”.

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Children as young as nine say they are ill from work recycling plastic in Turkey

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Human Rights Watch says failure to enforce laws worsens health impact at centres, amid steep rise in EU and UK waste exports

Children as young as nine are working in plastic waste recycling centres in Turkey, putting them at risk of serious and lifelong health conditions, according to Human Rights Watch.

Workers including children, and people living in homes located “dangerously close” to the centres, told researchers they were suffering from respiratory problems, severe headaches and skin ailments.

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New RSC co-artistic directors ready to ‘shake up’ Shakespeare

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Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey – the first woman to be appointed permanently in the role – take up their posts in June

Michael Billington: An inspired duo to lead the RSC – with an immense task

The Royal Shakespeare Company has appointed two people to be co-artistic directors for the first time in four decades.

Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey – the first woman to be permanently appointed artistic director at the RSC – will take up their post in June next year.

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Trudeau’s team defend Bohemian Rhapsody rendition before Queen’s funeral

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Clip of Canadian prime minister singing in London hotel two days before funeral has sparked criticism

A spokesperson for Justin Trudeau has defended the Canadian prime minister over a leaked video that showed him singing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody in a London hotel lobby two days before Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.

The 14-second video clip, viewed more than 1.5m times, shows Trudeau in a T-shirt leaning against a piano at the Corinthia hotel and joining others in a rendition of one of the rock band Queen’s most famous songs.

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‘Not every measure will be popular’: Truss says voters may not like all her pro-growth measures – UK politics live

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Latest updates: prime minister says she is willing to implement unpopular policies to try to boost growth in the UK

Rosie Cooper has indicated that she intends to stand down as Labour MP for West Lancashire to take up a new job as chair of the Mersey Care NHS foundation trust. In her statement announcing the move Cooper says that events in recent years have “undoubtedly taken their toll” – a reference to Cooper being targeted by a neo-Nazi who was jailed for life in 2019 for plotting to kill her.

Cooper’s statement implies she will resign and trigger a byelection. At the last election she had a majority of more than 8,000 over the Conservatives, and in a byelection Labour would be expected to hold the seat very easily.

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Kwasi Kwarteng urged to allow release of OBR forecasts with mini-budget

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Tory chair of Treasury committee says independent forecasts vital to provide reassurance to markets

The Tory chair of the Treasury select committee has urged Kwasi Kwarteng to allow independent forecasts for the public finances to be published alongside his mini-budget on Friday.

Mel Stride released a strongly worded statement urging more clarity around the effects of the new chancellor’s fiscal interventions.

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Leicester violence could spread beyond city, warns local MP Claudia Webbe

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Leicester East MP says ministers must clamp down on ‘extremist rightwing ideology’

Violent clashes between groups of mainly Hindu and Muslim young men will spread beyond Leicester to other towns and cities without central government and police intervention, a local MP has warned.

Claudia Webbe, whose Leicester East constituency has been at the centre of several incidents over the past month, said ministers needed to clamp down on “extremist rightwing ideology” and misinformation being spread through social media.

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Fresh rail strikes to hit Tory party conference

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RMT members at 14 train operating companies take action in dispute over pay, jobs and working conditions

Workers across the rail industry will join train drivers in strikes on 1 October, targeting the start of Conservative party conference.

The RMT union has announced fresh action after planned strikes were put on hold during the 10 days of mourning for the Queen.

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Wales may impose ‘visitor levy’ on overnight guests

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Proposal to tax visitors – including Welsh residents – branded a ‘misguided and damaging bed tax’

Everyone who overnights in Wales, whether it be in a luxury hotel, a cosy holiday cottage or the most basic campsite, may face a “visitor levy” under a hugely controversial Welsh government scheme.

The Labour-led government has launched a consultation on the proposal that could result in almost all visitors – including Welsh residents staying away from home – being taxed for their stays.

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UK unions seek legal review of government’s strike-breaking laws

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TUC leads legal action over ministers’ plans to allow agency workers to replace striking staff

Trade unions have launched legal proceedings against the UK government, arguing that new laws allowing companies to use agency workers to break strikes are a “broad daylight” attack on the right to take industrial action.

Eleven trade unions, led by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), have sought permission for a judicial review of new regulations making the change.

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Madeleine McCann’s parents lose challenge over Portuguese libel case

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Couple sought redress from European court of human rights after libel case against detective was overturned

The parents of Madeleine McCann have lost their European court of human rights challenge to the Portuguese supreme court’s decision to throw out their libel case against a former detective who implicated them in their daughter’s disappearance.

Kate and Gerry McCann sued Gonçalo Amaral, who led the botched police search for Madeleine in 2007, over statements he made in a book, documentary and newspaper interview alleging that they were involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.

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UK under pressure to increase aid to Global Fund after US pledge

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Initiative to fight malaria, TB and Aids has asked for 30% increase after Covid crisis, but UK yet to announce pledge

Britain’s new government is facing the first test of its commitment to the global south as it decides whether to follow Joe Biden’s lead and pledge an extra £1.8bn to the Global Fund, the highly successful 20-year-old initiative that fights malaria, tuberculosis and Aids.

A replenishment event to cover funding for the next three years is taking place in New York, and Liz Truss’s administration has been delaying an announcement, partly owing to the death of the Queen.

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Met handcuff peaceful anti-Bolsonaro protester to delight of Brazil’s far right

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Police accused of unnecessary force as president’s son shares video of detention to show Britons ‘don’t like communists either’

The Metropolitan police have been accused of using unnecessary force and handing a propaganda coup to Brazil’s far right after a peaceful demonstrator was detained and handcuffed during a protest outside the Brazilian ambassador’s London residence.

Ali Rocha, a 50-year-old Brazilian and British citizen, and her flatmate were intercepted by officers on Sunday lunchtime as they joined a protest against Brazil’s radical rightwing president, Jair Bolsonaro, who was in the UK for the Queen’s funeral.

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