Category Archives: UK news

Watchdog urged to step in as UK’s poorest turn off energy supply

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Spate of self-disconnections reflects rising costs, punitive debt collection and disproportionately high charges, says charity

A food bank charity has called for the energy watchdog to intervene after a spate of reports of penniless families self-disconnecting from their gas and electricity, leaving them unable to wash clothes, use cookers or even switch on lights.

Feeding Britain said people on low incomes who used prepayment energy meters were increasingly being pushed into destitution by rising costs, punitive debt collection rules and disproportionately high standing charges.

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UK preparing for Queen’s platinum jubilee with thousands of events

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Celebrations to be spread out across country during extended bank holiday weekend but royal family urge more to get involved

The UK is preparing to celebrate the platinum jubilee weekend in style, with 1,458 public events and 1,775 street parties or private events officially registered to take place from 2 to 5 June.

The celebrations are spread out across the country, with 240 in and around London, 208 around Manchester, 133 near Birmingham, 98 in Scotland – including four in the Orkneys and one on the Isle of Lewis – 21 in Northern Ireland and two in Guernsey.

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Home Office charging bereaved partners £2,400 to secure leave to remain in UK

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Many are struggling to pay fee – which is five times higher than administrative cost – and face destitution and deportation

Bereaved spouses with the right to remain in the UK are facing destitution and deportation because the Home Office is charging them thousands of pounds to stay, the Guardian has learned.

People whose British spouses or partners have died are calling on the Home Office to waive the £2,404 fee for the “bereaved partner concession”, which grants a husband or wife indefinite leave to remain.

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Margaret Thatcher statue egged within hours of it being installed

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The memorial of the former prime minister in her home town of Grantham was unveiled without ceremony

Warnings that a new statue of Margaret Thatcher would attract egg throwing protests came true within two hours of it being installed in her home town of Grantham on Sunday.

The bronze statue was, without ceremony, placed on a 3m (10ft) high plinth to make it more difficult for protesters to inflict any damage.

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Unite union seeks talks with Sturgeon over Grangemouth refinery

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Union says oil refinery’s ‘strategic importance’ means talks about possible threats are urgent

Trade union bosses are seeking an urgent meeting with Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon amid uncertainty surrounding the future of the Grangemouth oil refinery.

Grangemouth is one of just six oil refineries in Great Britain and supplies two-thirds of the petrol and diesel for forecourts in Scotland as well as large volumes for the north of England and Northern Ireland.

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Exiles angry as Queen hosts king of Bahrain

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UK is ‘haven for dictators’ says critic after Queen invites ruler who outlawed political opposition in Middle Eastern state to the Royal Windsor horse show

The king of Bahrain is expected to attend the Royal Windsor horse show on Sunday after a personal invitation from the Queen, prompting anger from campaigners who claim the UK is “sportswashing” what they say is an increasingly repressive regime.

King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has been invited as a guest of the Queen, demonstrating a warmth of official ties despite the Middle Eastern state’s outlawing of political opposition, and human rights violations including torture.

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The Northern Ireland protocol is said to be a blight on regional economy. That’s just not true

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After an initial shock to businesses, manufacturing jobs are growing four times faster here than the UK average

Whenever Boris Johnson’s government wades into battle over the Northern Ireland protocol, it wields one assertion like a broadsword: that the protocol is ruining the region’s economy. Checks on goods entering Northern Ireland are disrupting trade, increasing prices and bankrupting businesses, and the damage will worsen unless the protocol is changed, goes the argument.

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a rightwing thinktank, joined the fray last week with a report that estimated the annual cost of the agreement at £850m.

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Labour heavyweight Wes Streeting denies plan to succeed Starmer

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A fundraising event held for the shadow minister sparks rumours that he is readying himself to replace Keir Starmer if he resigns over Beergate

Labour rising star Wes Streeting has denied preparing a leadership bid to replace Keir Starmer after it emerged that the wealthy party donor Waheed Alli hosted a recent fundraising event for him and another MP at his central London home.

The Observer has been told that the actors Ian McKellen and Michael Cashman, as well the businesswoman and LGBTQ+ activist Linda Riley, were among 20 to 30 people present at the event in March, where Lord Alli picked up the £4,600 bill for a buffet and drinks.

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Headteachers fight for funds to shore up England’s dilapidated classrooms

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Hundreds of schools are queueing for cash to replace leaky roofs and failing heating. Yet each year only 50 will get money to rebuild

When it rains, the pupils at Wales high school, south Yorkshire, know to look out for numerous obstacles as they move around the building - buckets, lots of buckets.

“On a rainy day, it’s commonplace to see a dozen buckets around the school,” said headteacher Pepe Di’Iasio. “You can’t do anything long term. We’re just patching over the roof and doing the various things that we can. We have flat roofs, asbestos throughout the place and an old energy system that uses heavy amounts. We have a building that we heat up every day and the heating goes straight up out of the roof.”

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England’s crumbling schools are a ‘risk to life’, officials warn No 10

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Leak reveals that the education department is battling with the Treasury for £13bn needed for rebuilding projects

Many school buildings in England are now in such disrepair they are a “risk to life”, according to internal government documents leaked to the Observer.

Emails sent by senior officials working for education secretary Nadhim Zahawi to Downing Street show them raising the alarm on two occasions within the last six weeks.

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Former Police Scotland officer hopes ‘torturous’ tribunal win will help women

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Ex-firearms officer Rhona Malone, awarded nearly £1m for sexist victimisation, says pain and sacrifices outweigh any compensation

A former armed response officer awarded nearly £1m by Police Scotland over victimisation said the past few years had been “torturous” and no amount of compensation could make up for the pain experienced.

Rhona Malone began her action against the force after a senior police officer said he did not want to see two female armed officers deployed together when there were sufficient male staff on duty.

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Queen’s platinum jubilee: the royals must span the social divides

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Brexit, Covid and Black Lives Matter have highlighted divisions in society. But we have more in common than we sometimes realise

In fragmented times, there is a public appetite for things that can bring us together. The jubilee is seen as the most important event of the year, ahead of the football World Cup, though that vote of confidence in the monarchy comes with future challenges. Support is rock-solid among older people in England’s home counties but only a minority of those in Scotland, of ethnic minority Britain and of the youngest adults are in favour.

The monarchy should resist all attempts to turn it into a symbol of tradition to see off “woke” younger generations – and instead respond to the public appetite for a Crown that bridges divides. In this year of welcoming, the royal estates should be part of Homes for Ukraine, celebrating both hosts and guests, and how those welcomed to Britain from Hong Kong and Afghanistan today, join new Britons from Uganda, Zimbabwe and Vietnam over the decades.

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The Russian bank, the Bruce Willis ad and the $900m sanctions battle

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Ministers warned that millions owed after alleged fraud by ex bosses of National Bank Trust could help fund Putin’s war effort

In one of Russia’s most high-profile marketing campaigns, film star Bruce Willis appeared in cinematic advertisements with a car chase and a rooftop rescue, ending with the slogan, “Trust is just like me, but a bank.”

The campaign for National Bank Trust in 2011 – which included cardboard cutouts of Willis popping up in 400 branches across Russia – was credited with raising the bank’s profile and boosting business.

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Ukraine refugees staying with UK hosts not cleared by criminal record checks

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Concerns grow for safety of those heading to Britain as government scrambles to fix flaws in housing scheme

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest developments

Ukrainians fleeing the war are being housed with UK hosts who have not had a criminal record check, in the latest concern to blight the government’s response to the refugee crisis.

Under increasing pressure to iron out flaws in its schemes, government sources told the Observer they were creating a “rematching” service to house Ukrainians with people willing to help.

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Secret British ‘black propaganda’ campaign targeted cold war enemies

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Britain stirred up tensions, chaos and violence in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, according to declassified papers

The British government ran a secret “black propaganda” campaign for decades, targeting Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia with leaflets and reports from fake sources aimed at destabilising cold war enemies by encouraging racial tensions, sowing chaos, inciting violence and reinforcing anti-communist ideas, newly declassified documents have revealed.

The effort, run from the mid-1950s through to the late 70s by a unit in London that was part of the Foreign Office, was focused on cold war enemies such as the Soviet Union and China, leftwing liberation groups and leaders that the UK saw as threats to its interests

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Fifty people to be sent to Rwanda in a fortnight, says Boris Johnson

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PM says he will ‘dig in for the fight’ with ‘leftie lawyers’ challenging government’s plan for refugees

Boris Johnson said 50 people have been told they will be sent to Rwanda within the next fortnight, and that he was ready to fight with “leftie lawyers” seeking to challenge the government’s plans for refugees.

Under the £120m scheme announced last month, people deemed to have entered the UK unlawfully will be transported to the east African country, where they will be allowed to apply for the right to settle.

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Britain forecast to bask in sunshine with temperature as high as 27C

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Warm weekend weather could lead to heavy rain in parts but more fine days are expected in the next week

Most of Britain can expect to be bathed in sunshine in the coming week as temperatures climb to a possible high of 27C in what would make the warmest spell of the year.

Saturday could be “16-19C widely – with 24C the possible high in the south-east”, according to Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern.

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Promote safety benefits of low-traffic schemes, Boardman tells councils

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Head of Active Travel England says aim is to give neighbourhoods back what has been taken away

Councils should face down rows over low-traffic neighbourhoods by reframing the debate in terms of livable streets that children can use safely, the head of England’s walking and cycling watchdog has argued as it unveiled its first raft of projects.

Chris Boardman, the former Olympic cyclist who heads Active Travel England (ATE), has promised his organisation will help local authorities navigate culture wars and media controversies over traffic schemes, along with carrying out its core role of ensuring good design.

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