Category Archives: UK news

Britain hands billions to projects linked to labour abuse and climate damage

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UK Export Finance used £5.24bn of taxpayer money to fund overseas energy and infrastructure ventures – despite its own review raising concerns

The British government has provided more than £5bn in the past three years to overseas energy and infrastructure projects linked to labour abuses and environmental damage, according to documents and interviews with workers.

The funding – a combination of loans and guarantees – comes from the government’s export credit agency, UK Export Finance (UKEF), a government department to help UK companies access business contracts overseas.

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UK local elections: what is up for grabs, and what might we learn?

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The elections on 5 May will be a key test for Boris Johnson after ‘partgate’, but they are often difficult to predict. Here is our handy guide to the polls

Much of the UK will go the polls on 5 May for local and regional elections that will be seen as a key test for Boris Johnson after months of negative headlines over allegedly lockdown-breaking parties. Local elections can be hard to decode, so here is what is up for grabs, and what we might learn.

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Royal Mail told workers may strike over alleged ‘fire and rehire’ plans

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Union says company aims to sack nearly 1,000 managers and bring in lower rates of pay

Royal Mail is being warned it could be hit by strikes over plans to cut managers’ jobs.

Unite said the company was aiming to sack nearly 1,000 managers and bring in lower rates of pay in another case of “fire and rehire”, which Royal Mail denies.

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UK politics: Boris Johnson grilled by MPs at liaison committee – live

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Latest updates: the PM is facing questions at the liaison committee, which is comprised of the chairs of the Commons select committees

Betts asks Harrington how many people have actually arrived in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Harrington says it is too early to say, but he says he may be able to tell the committee at the end of the week.

Harrington said that he agreed it took too long to fill in a visa application form. He said at the weekend he spent just under under an hour filling out one out himself, and he was in a more comfortable situation than the refugees who have to fill them out. He said the government was looking at what it can do to make the forms shorter.

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The Wanted singer Tom Parker dies from brain cancer aged 33

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Pop star who was diagnosed with tumour in 2020 had ‘infectious smile and energetic presence’, says his wife

Tom Parker, singer with the Wanted, has died aged 33 from brain cancer.

His wife, Kelsey, said on Instagram: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that we confirm Tom passed away peacefully earlier today with all of his family by his side. Our hearts are broken, Tom was the centre of our world and we can’t imagine life without his infectious smile and energetic presence.”

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Deliveroo CEO pay rises by 16% to £600,000 – plus £5m in shares

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Remuneration of takeaway delivery firm boss comes at time its couriers are facing higher costs

Deliveroo chief executive Will Shu was handed a near 16% basic pay rise this year after taking home a £519,200 salary and £5.2m share payout last year.

The takeaway courier boss will receive basic pay of £600,000 this year and is set to receive another near £5m of shares in April next year, part of a £30m package over the next six years according to the group’s annual report published on Wednesday.

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Russian oligarchs on UK sanctions list were granted ‘golden visas’

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Eight unnamed individuals were awarded right to live in Britain under controversial investor visa scheme

Eight Russian oligarchs on the UK sanctions list over their links to Vladimir Putin were granted “golden visas” to live in Britain.

The eight individuals, who Boris Johnson described as having “the blood of the Ukrainian people on their hands”, were granted the right to live in the UK after promising to invest at least £2m under the controversial tier 1 investor visa scheme.

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Grenfell inquiry told government had ideological aversion to red tape

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Brandon Lewis is first government minister to give evidence at inquiry in London

Calls to regulate against the potential incompetence of people who check fire risks in buildings before the Grenfell Tower disaster were dismissed by government ministers because of an “ideological” aversion to increasing red tape, the public inquiry has heard.

Two coroners investigating earlier fire fatalities, the London fire brigade commissioner and the government’s own chief fire adviser were among experts who asked ministers to toughen scrutiny of fire risk assessors, according to testimony heard during cross-examination of Brandon Lewis, the first government minister to give evidence.

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Yandex helps websites pushing false news make millions in advertising

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Yandex-delivered ads found alongside misinformation and propaganda about Ukraine on Russian-language news sites

A Russian tech giant mostly owned by western investors is helping websites pushing false claims about the war in Ukraine to make thousands of dollars every day through digital advertising.

Yandex is considered Russia’s equivalent to Google, running both a search engine and an extensive digital advertising business. Its deputy CEO, Tigran Khudaverdyan, resigned this month after the European Union imposed sanctions on him.

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UK judges withdraw from Hong Kong’s court of final appeal

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Judges resign saying administration has ‘departed from values of political freedom and freedom of expression’

UK judges have withdrawn from Hong Kong’s court of final appeal, citing concerns that their continued participation would appear to endorse the current administration amid dwindling political liberties and freedom of expression in the Chinese territory.

Lord Reed, the president of the UK supreme court, the country’s highest court, said he and his colleague Lord Hodge had submitted their resignations as judges of the Hong Kong court of final appeal (HKCFA) with immediate effect.

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John Menzies accepts takeover bid from Kuwaiti aviation services rival Agility

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Edinburgh-based firm agrees to £571m offer that will create world’s largest airport services firm

Executives at the British aviation services company John Menzies have accepted a £571m takeover deal from a Kuwaiti rival, after rebuffing three previous offers.

A subsidiary of Agility Public Warehousing had made the bid more than a month ago, which was conditional at the time, although the John Menzies board said it would accept the offer.

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Labour and Tory rebels force disclosure of security advice on Lebedev peerage

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Conservative whips allow MPs to abstain in vote on publication in U-turn after backbenchers threaten to support Labour motion

Boris Johnson has suffered a fresh humiliation after Tory rebels joined with Labour to force the publication of security advice relating to Evgeny Lebedev’s peerage.

Labour launched a bid to reveal information about Johnson’s appointment of his friend to the House of Lords, following the revelation that the intelligence services had concerns about the Russian-born businessman and son of a former KGB officer.

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Free Covid tests to end for most people in England on Friday

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From 1 April most people will have pay for a test even if they have symptoms, ministers confirm

Free Covid testing will end for most people in England from Friday, ministers have confirmed, meaning most people who want to know if they are infected will have to pay for a test, whether they have symptoms or not.

Details of the new testing regime, released in a written ministerial statement on Tuesday, reveal that from 1 April, free symptomatic testing will be available only to hospital patients when it is required for their care and to people living or working in “high-risk settings”, such as care homes and prisons.

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Jackie Weaver had ‘no authority’ after all, investigation finds

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A year after the chaotic parish council Zoom call, reports find the Handforth councillor was in the wrong

Jackie Weaver – if you recall the dialogue from the jaw-droppingly chaotic parish council meeting – had “no authority” to remove councillors from the meeting. “No authority at all.”

More than a year on, newly published independent investigation reports have revealed the complainants were correct: the muting of microphones and removal of individual councillors “was without authority”. Weaver, it seems, did not have the authority to do what she did.

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Was Prince Andrew’s role at service a bid to rehabilitate ‘soiled royal’?

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Analysis: Concerns about royal family’s judgment and message to abuse victims as prince appears at Queen’s side

Prince Andrew has long been known as the Queen’s favourite son – which may help explain why she wanted him by her side at the Duke of Edinburgh’s memorial service six weeks after he reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with a woman who accused him of sex assault when she was 17.

But Andrew may be hoping other elements of his reputation have a lot less sticking power.

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Influential Pen Green children’s centre saved from closure after council U-turn

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North Northamptonshire council announces midway through packed meeting it would keep nursery afloat – in short term

A legendary nursery school that has been called the world’s most famous children’s centre and was a blueprint for Sure Start has been saved from immediate closure after an 11th hour U-turn by Tory councillors in the face of widespread public opposition.

North Northamptonshire council dramatically announced midway through a packed and emotional public meeting on Tuesday that it would use £650k of reserves to keep the trailblazing Pen Green nursery in Corby and three other state-run nurseries afloat.

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Partygate may prove to be the scandal that won’t go away for Boris Johnson

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Analysis: Scotland Yard issuing fixed-penalty notices will only revive doubts in PM’s leadership among Tory backbenchers

It was an electrifying development that has given renewed hope to some Tory rebels hoping to oust the prime minister.

After all the bluff and bluster from Boris Johnson, the Metropolitan police announcement of 20 fixed-penalty notices for people over Downing Street parties is concrete confirmation that the authorities believe the rules were broken during lockdown.

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British-Iranian Morad Tahbaz ends hunger strike in Tehran jail

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Tri-national was excluded from deal leading to release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori

Morad Tahbaz, the British-Iranian left behind when two others were released from Iranian detention a fortnight ago, has ended a nine-day hunger strike at the pleading of his family, his daughter has said.

He remains in jail in Tehran contrary to an agreement the British claimed it had struck with the Iranians.

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Experts push for genetic testing to personalise drug prescriptions

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Pharmacogenomic testing could save the NHS money in the long term and reduce the risks of side-effects

Genetic testing to predict how individuals will respond to common medicines should be implemented without delay to reduce the risk of side-effects and ensure that everyone is given the right drug at the right dose, experts have said.

About 6.5% of UK hospital admissions are caused by adverse drug reactions, while most prescription medicines only work on 30% to 50% of people. A significant part of this is due to genetics: almost 99% of people carry at least one genetic variation that affects their response to certain drugs, including commonly prescribed painkillers, heart disease drugs and antidepressants. By the age of 70, about 90% of people are taking at least one of these medications.

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UK must seize chance to repair relations with EU, says thinktank head

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Director of Chatham House says Britain’s role in Ukraine crisis is an opportunity to work more formally with Brussels

Britain should use its leading role in the Ukraine war urgently to repair its relations with the EU by offering to help strengthen European security both via Nato and rapidly evolving EU defence plans, the director of Chatham House, Dr Robin Niblett, has proposed.

That will require working more formally with Brussels on foreign policy and defence, including issues such as cyber, intelligence and disinformation, said Niblett, who heads Britain’s leading foreign policy thinktank.

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