Category Archives: UK news

‘Sack sexist and racist officers’ Met police report rules

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Exclusive: Louise Casey’s long-awaited review will say the force has allowed ‘abhorrent’ officers to stay in its ranks

The Metropolitan police must take a “zero-tolerance” approach to misogyny and racism and enable offending officers to be sacked more easily, a report into culture and standards at Britain’s biggest police force will say on Monday.

The long-awaited report by Louise Casey into how Scotland Yard deals with officers accused of sexual misconduct and domestic abuse has uncovered systemic failings that have allowed too many “abhorrent” individuals to remain on the frontline.

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Royal Society of Arts accused of ‘spite’ by staff member who spoke out on unions

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Staff member who spoke to the Observer about drive to get workers to join IWGB union claims she was ‘punished’ by arts charity

The Royal Society of Arts has been accused of punishing staff who spoke out about their campaign to unionise the 270-year-old charity.

The Observer reported last week that almost half the charity’s workforce below senior manager level had joined the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), with a petition indicating most staff backed unionisation. The RSA senior management team led by Andy Haldane, a former chief economist at the Bank of England, has rebuffed three requests to voluntarily recognise the union.

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UK food banks at breaking point urge Liz Truss to boost aid to poorest

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As cost of living crisis bites, 3,000 volunteers across several organisations sign letter of warning to the prime minister

Thousands of food bank volunteers will warn Liz Truss on Monday that they are having to ration provisions, as their services have become “overstretched and exhausted” because of an influx of people needing their help.

In a sign of a continuing cost of living crisis that was building even before the economic crisis that followed the government’s mini-budget, a letter signed by more than 3,000 food bank workers will be delivered to Downing Street.

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The unravelling: the full story of how Liz Truss lost her way – and her authority in the Tory party

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The prime minister ditched her close ally Kwasi Kwarteng to save her own job – but now Conservative MPs are openly plotting to replace her

After an astonishing eight-minute press conference, in which Liz Truss attempted to salvage her imploding leadership by firing her closest political ally and ditching a totemic policy that won her the job, the most telling reaction was that of officials who had served in Boris Johnson’s chaotic Downing Street.

Just a few short months ago, they had been forced to endure months of scandal, followed by the resignations of dozens of ministers. They had even awkwardly brushed shoulders with cabinet members gathered in Downing Street to tell Johnson that his time was up. But after watching Truss’s hunted demeanour on Friday afternoon, their suffering suddenly seemed trifling.

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‘Send off the clowns’: Labour ads tear into Tories amid Truss crisis

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Scathing posters ridicule Conservatives for damaging Britain’s reputation, lifting mortgages and crashing the economy

The UK’s Labour party is looking to capitalise on the government crisis with a series of new adverts as it gears up for the next general election.

The scathing posters, seen by the PA news agency, attack the Conservatives for damaging Britain’s standing on the world stage, hiking mortgages and crashing the economy.

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Joe Biden: Liz Truss tax cuts a ‘mistake’ and ‘I wasn’t the only one’ who thought so

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US president rejects ‘cutting taxes on the super-wealthy’ and says he is worried by ‘lack of economic growth and sound policy in other countries’

Joe Biden has called Liz Truss’s abandoned UK tax cut plan a “mistake” and said he is worried that other nations’ fiscal policies may hurt the US amid “worldwide inflation”.

Biden said it was “predictable” that the new British prime minister was forced on Friday to walk back plans to aggressively cut taxes without identifying cost savings, after Truss’s proposal caused turmoil in global financial markets.

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Common drugs could fight obesity and diabetes, say scientists

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Researchers identify medications that could be repurposed, including treatments for heart conditions and stomach ulcers

Scientists have pinpointed a range of commonly used medicines that could be repurposed to treat people suffering from obesity and diabetes.

The medicines – to be outlined at the International Congress on Obesity in Melbourne this weekend – include treatments for stomach ulcers and heart rhythm disorders and were identified using sophisticated computer programs.

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Jeremy Hunt says mistakes made and taxes set to rise as Bank warns of ‘strong response’ to inflation – UK politics live

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Chancellor says ‘difficult decisions’ ahead with some departments needing to find savings and some taxes set to rise

Hunt says the UK has a “massive amount going for us”, but the reason it remains a top economy is because the country has been prepared to make “tough decisions” – and this moment is one of them.

The new chancellor says he is “very sensitive” to people at the bottom of the income scale but will not commit to not cutting benefits. “I’ve only been in the job for a matter of hours,” he says, adding that he will be sitting down with the Treasury team later today.

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Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood charged with attempted rape

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CPS also charge footballer with controlling behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm

Manchester United footballer Mason Greenwood has been charged with attempted rape, engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

The 21-year-old had been arrested on Saturday morning on suspicion of breaching his bail conditions.

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Jeremy Hunt says difficult decisions ahead after Truss ‘mistakes’

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New chancellor vows to be ‘completely honest with country’ amid rumours PM has only weeks left in role

The new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has spoken of “mistakes” made by the Liz Truss administration and predicted “difficult decisions ahead”.

Appearing on Sky News on Saturday, in his first interview since replacing Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday, the former health secretary signalled he would have a “clean slate” when it came to the budget, and vowed to be “completely honest with the country” amid rumours that Truss has only weeks left as prime minister.

Hunt, who was parachuted into No 11 in an attempt to restore order to Truss’s ailing government, also suggested that some taxes could rise, as he promised to bring stability to the UK in the wake of the disastrous mini-budget.

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Qatar World Cup imposes ‘chilling’ restrictions on media

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Rules ban BBC, ITV and other broadcasters from filming near government buildings and migrant workers’ accommodation

International television crews in Qatar for the Fifa World Cup will be banned from interviewing people in their own homes as part of sweeping reporting restrictions that could have a “severe chilling effect” on media coverage.

Broadcasters, such as the BBC and ITV, will also be forbidden from filming at accommodation sites, like those housing migrant workers, under the terms of filming permits issued by the Qatari government.

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Drought threatens England’s fruit and vegetable crop next year, says report

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Scorching summer left reservoirs depleted and unlikely to recover, as growers warn of supply chain collapse in leaked meeting

Farmers have warned they will not be able to grow crops next year if predictions that the drought will last until next summer prove accurate.

Leaked slides from a national drought group meeting, seen by the Observer, show there are concerns that because reservoirs are still empty due to record dry conditions, the fruit and vegetable supply chain could collapse.

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Keir Starmer criticises ‘grotesque chaos’ under Liz Truss government

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Labour leader says UK is ‘crying out for clear leadership’ and his party ‘must provide it’

Keir Starmer has criticised the “grotesque chaos” of recent weeks and said the government “no longer has a mandate from the British people”.

The Labour leader said there were no historical precedents for the ongoing economic turmoil and that the prime minister, Liz Truss, would not be able to “fix the mess she has created”.

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Tobias Ellwood has Tory whip restored after being suspended in July

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Chair of Commons defence committee had whip withdrawn for failing to turn up for a confidence vote

A senior Conservative MP has had the whip restored after being suspended from the party for missing a confidence vote in the summer.

Tobias Ellwood, chair of the Commons defence select committee, had the whip withdrawn after failing to vote for Boris Johnson’s government in a confidence vote in July.

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How Brexit nearly scuppered the ‘festival of Brexit’

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Project hit by fall in labour supply and rise in costs, and investigation launched over low visitor numbers

For some, the whole project was supposed to be a celebration of Britain’s departure from the EU. Which means there is more than a little irony in the fact a main concern of the “festival of Brexit” organisers was the impact of leaving itself.

Disruption to the supply of workers and materials, as well as increased costs, emerged as one of the risks overshadowing the project, according to records.

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Broadband customers face up to 14% hike in bills, warns Which?

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BT customers face £113 rise as providers such as EE and TalkTalk prepare controversial ‘inflation-plus’ mechanism

Broadband bills could surge by as much as £113 next year if a number of the UK’s biggest telecoms firms push ahead with inflation-busting price increases next spring, says consumer watchdog Which?

Many of the country’s main internet providers – including the largest player BT, along with TalkTalk, EE, Plusnet and Vodafone – use a mechanism to increase the cost of bills annually by the rate of inflation as measured by the consumer prices index (CPI) in January, plus 3.9%.

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Five million UK families ‘face mortgage rising by £5,100 a year by end of 2024’

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Increase adds up to a £26bn rise for homeowners, says Resolution Foundation thinktank

More than five million families could see their annual mortgage payments rise by an average of £5,100 between now and the end of 2024, heaping fresh pain on households already struggling with higher food and energy bills.

The increase adds up to a £26bn mortgage rise for homeowners, according to the analysis by the Resolution Foundation thinktank which said nearly a fifth of British households would have to spend more on their housing costs by the end of 2024.

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Truss premiership ‘hanging by thread’ after Kwarteng sacking and latest U-turn

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PM’s move to replace chancellor and commit to raising corporation tax fails to placate markets or Tory MPs

Liz Truss is desperately clinging to her premiership after she sacked her chancellor and ripped up the mini-budget but failed to calm the financial markets or furious Conservative MPs.

In a humiliating reversal, the prime minister backed down on plans to scrap an £18bn rise in corporation tax and replaced Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor with Jeremy Hunt.

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Home Office apologises over threat to send pregnant rape survivor to Rwanda

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Government withdraws letter to woman, who is 37 weeks pregnant, saying that it was sent by mistake

The Home Office has apologised to a pregnant rape survivor from Eritrea who was sent a letter threatening her with forced removal to Rwanda, saying it was sent by mistake.

Guardian and ITV News revealed on Thursday that the woman was distraught after receiving the Home Office letter, which has now been withdrawn.

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Man admits sexual assault of woman in queue for Queen’s lying in state

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Adeshina Adio, 20, from south-east London, was arrested after jumping into Thames to evade police

A 20-year-old man has admitted sexually assaulting a young woman by exposing himself and pushing into her from behind as she waited in the queue to attend the Queen’s lying in state.

Adeshina Adio, from south-east London, jumped into the River Thames to escape arrest after assaulting the woman at Victoria Tower Gardens as she waited in the queue to pay her respects to the late monarch. He was detained by officers when he came out of the water.

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