Category Archives: UK news

Not doing enough? France senses policing alone won’t stop risky crossings

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Analysis: UK suggestions that the French are not exerting themselves enough belies a more complex situation

Behind Boris Johnson’s suggestions, in the wake of the Channel drownings, that France was not doing enough to stop small boat crossings, lies a more complex picture. There is a growing sense among charities and the French political class that policing, security and repression alone cannot solve the issue of refugees risking their life to reach the UK to claim asylum.

In the past year, with rising numbers of attempted small boat crossings across the perilous shipping lanes of the Channel, there has been a significant increase in policing and patrols along the French coast, with new surveillance equipment, reservists called in, and more than 600 police officers and gendarmes working 24 hours a day – increasingly at night – to patrol a 40-mile stretch of rugged coast. UK financing has already contributed to new technology and an increase in officers. In addition, asylum seekers sleeping rough are moved on nightly, with tents and sleeping bags confiscated and camps broken up.

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Action over variant shows government keen to avoid Christmas calamity of 2020

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Analysis: variant provides test of whether relaxation of rules and booster push is effective policy

Last Christmas, as ministers rashly promised five days of festive family gatherings while a new variant gathered pace, Boris Johnson held out until the final hours until he bowed to the inevitable and cancelled Christmas.

Despite rising cases in Europe and new restrictions on the continent, ministers had been bullish about going ahead with Christmas gatherings this year. Cabinet ministers have already sent invites for the Christmas drinks dos.

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French coastguard’s mayday call after boat capsized – audio

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The French coastguard mayday call emerged on Thursday after 27 people drowned trying to cross the Channel. All ships were alerted in the area about "approximately" 15 people being overboard and to report information to Gris-Nez emergency officials.

An emergency search began at about 2pm on Wednesday when a fishing boat sounded the alarm after spotting several people at sea off the coast of France. The cause of the accident has not been formally established but the boat used was inflatable and when found by rescuers was mostly deflated

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French fishers to block Channel tunnel in Brexit licences row

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Members of industry association say large number of vehicles will be used to block key artery between nations

French fishers are threatening to block access to the Channel tunnel and the ferry port in Calais on Friday as part of an ongoing dispute over access to the waters between France and the UK in the wake of Brexit.

They have branded the UK’s approach as “contemptuous” and “humiliating” and say they have no other option but to block access to the port and tunnel along with two other ports, Saint-Malo and Ouistreham.

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Priti Patel says UK will cooperate with France to stop refugees crossing the Channel – video

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The home secretary said it was up to France to stop refugees crossing the Channel in small boats, after 27 people, mostly Kurds from Iraq or Iran, drowned trying to reach the UK in an inflatable boat.

Making a statement to MPs, Patel said that while there was no rapid solution to the issue of people seeking to make the crossing, she had reiterated a UK offer to send more police to France.

Patel told the Commons she had just spoken to her French counterpart, Gérald Darmanin, after the disaster in which 17 men, seven women and three adolescents – two boys and a girl – drowned

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UK asylum claims at highest level since 2004, with record backlog of cases

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Home Office says 67,547 applications waiting to be dealt with, as ministers urged to drop ‘nationalist posturing’

Asylum claims made in the UK have risen to their highest level for nearly 20 years, according to new figures from the Home Office, as the head of the Refugee Council calls for less “nationalist posturing” over people fleeing war zones.

The backlog of cases waiting to be dealt with is also at a record high, with 67,547 people in the queue and more than 125,000 either waiting for a decision or due to be removed from the UK.

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HMRC to relocate to Newcastle office owned by Tory donors via tax haven

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Exclusive: Deal is part of north-east regeneration scheme developed by property tycoons David and Simon Reuben

HM Revenue and Customs has struck a deal to relocate tax officials into a new office complex in Newcastle owned by major Conservative party donors through an offshore company based in a tax haven, the Guardian can reveal.

The department’s planned new home in the north-east of England is part of a regeneration scheme developed by a British Virgin Islands (BVI) entity controlled by the billionaire property tycoons David and Simon Reuben.

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Priti Patel faces three legal challenges over refugee pushback plans

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Charities say home secretary’s policy for small boats in Channel is unlawful under rights and maritime laws

Priti Patel is facing three legal challenges over her controversial plans to push back refugees on small boats in the Channel who are trying to reach the UK.

Several charities including Care4Calais and Channel Rescue are involved in two linked challenges arguing that Patel’s plans are unlawful under human rights and maritime laws. Freedom from Torture is involved in a third challenge.

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At least 31 reported dead after dinghy capsizes in Channel

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Two survivors in intensive care as four are arrested over drownings in boat described as like ‘a pool you blow up in your garden’


At least thirty one people including five women and a young girl have died trying to cross the Channel to the UK in an inflatable dinghy, officials say, in what is the deadliest incident since the current crisis began.

Two survivors are in intensive care while police have arrested four people suspected of being linked to the drownings. The International Organisation for Migration said it was the biggest single loss of life in the Channel since it began collecting data in 2014.

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Channel crossing tragedy: Priti Patel offers joint patrols with France – latest updates

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UK home secretary addresses Commons after 27 people – including at least one pregnant woman and three children - drown off UK coast

The MP for Calais Pierre Henri Dumont told Sky News that he believes 29 bodies have been found.

British Red Cross chief executive Mike Adamson said: “Reports of more lives lost today in theChannel are truly heartbreaking and come far too soon after other recent deaths on this route.

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Former soldier charged with murdering couple at their Somerset home

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Collin Reeves, 34, is accused of killing Stephen and Jennifer Chapple as their children slept upstairs

A former soldier has been charged with the murder of a husband and wife who died at their home in a Somerset village as their children slept upstairs.

Collin Reeves, 34, is accused of murdering his neighbours Stephen Chapple, 36, a teacher, and Jennifer Chapple, 33, who worked in a coffee shop.

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Roman Abramovich wins first round of libel battle over Putin’s People book

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UK judge rules some passages convey a defamatory meaning, including claim Putin told him to buy Chelsea

A judge has ruled that a number of passages in the bestselling book Putin’s People convey a defamatory meaning against Roman Abramovich, including a claim that he bought Chelsea football club on Vladimir Putin’s orders.

The Russian oligarch said he was defamed by 26 specific passages in the book by the journalist Catherine Belton, all of which he says convey untrue meanings about him.

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Novavax expected to be approved as fourth Covid vaccine in UK

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Trials show the protein-based jab causes fewer side-effects – and hundreds of British jobs depend on it

Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna. Britons have become so accustomed to the three Covid vaccines available in the UK that most have forgotten about another jab, Novavax – even though the government has ordered 60m doses and hundreds of British jobs depend on it.

Late last month the US company, with a factory on Teesside primed to manufacture doses, submitted final data to UK regulators and a positive decision is anticipated within days or weeks. It will bring to an end what feels like a long wait compared with the speedy development and approval of the other jabs, including for those who took part in trials.

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Boris Johnson accused of flouting request to wear mask at theatre

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Exclusive: Audience member at Almeida theatre says PM was not wearing mask during Macbeth performance

Boris Johnson once again flouted official requests to wear a mask as he watched a performance of Macbeth at a busy theatre in north London on Tuesday night, witnesses say.

The prime minister was in the audience to see the Shakespearean tragedy at the Almeida theatre in Islington, after a torrid few days in which backbench Tories have accused him of losing the plot.

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‘They’re in the way’: Manchester rebels against grey advertising boxes

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Pedestrians call them ugly and a nuisance but council says money is sorely needed after years of cuts

Earlier this year, Manchester city council declared ambitions to become a pedestrian paradise. “We want walking to be the main way people get around the city centre,” proclaimed the town hall’s transport plan. “Pavements and public spaces will be high quality, well-maintained, green and accessible – catering for everyone, no matter what their age or mobility.”

Yet this autumn, 86 mysterious grey boxes were plonked on pavements across the city which did pretty much the opposite. Measuring more than a metre across, the metal monoliths obstructed the footway, failing what transport engineers call “the double buggy test” while upsetting wheelchair users and aesthetes alike.

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‘Follow the science’: AstraZeneca unveils £1bn R&D centre

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Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company has come a long way since it fought off a takeover bid in 2014

Little expense has been spared at the giant glass and steel structure that sprouts from a once-vacant plot of land on the outskirts of Cambridge.

AstraZeneca’s £1bn new research and development centre houses 16 labs and 2,200 scientists, making it the biggest science lab in Britain along with the Francis Crick Institute in London, and the pharmaceutical company’s biggest single site investment to date.

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People in England and Scotland urged to take more lateral flow tests

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UK government guidance updated to cover socialising indoors, as Scotland’s first minister urges people to make ‘extra effort’

Covid guidance is being toughened across the UK to try to prevent a surge in cases before Christmas, with a focus on more rapid tests and home working. But scientists said messaging must be reinforced with a significant government publicity blitz.

In an update to official guidance, people in England are now advised to take a lateral flow test (LFT) if they expect to be in a “high risk situation” that day, such as spending time in “crowded and enclosed spaces” and where “there is limited fresh air”.

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Boris Johnson is not unwell and has not lost his grip, says No 10

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Downing Street spokesperson responds to questions about PM’s health after rambling speech to CBI on Monday

Boris Johnson is physically well and has a full grasp on the prime ministership, Downing Street has said following his rambling speech to business leaders on Monday in which he lost his place for about 20 seconds.

People who watched the speech Johnson gave to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference were impressed with it, his spokesman argued, adding that cabinet ministers could speak freely if they had any concerns.

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Call to British Airways might have averted 1990 Kuwait hostage crisis

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Ambassador warned Foreign Office an Iraqi invasion was under way but this was not passed on to airline

Hundreds of British passengers might have avoided being taken hostage by Saddam Hussein in 1990 if a call by a British ambassador regarding Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait had been relayed to British Airways, the Foreign Office has disclosed.

The revelation of the phone call and the decades long cover-up was made on Tuesday under the 20-year disclosure rule, but was known to ministers and diplomats since 1990. The current foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has apologised for the omission.

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Covid live news: cases increase in 75% of UK local authorities; France reports sharp rise in cases

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Latest updates: Torridge in Devon had the highest rate in UK followed by Mid Ulster in Northern Ireland; France reports over 30,000 cases

Here’s the latest from Reuters on the situation in Germany, where the acting health minister called on Tuesday for further restrictions to contain a “dramatic” surge in coronavirus cases as the country’s infection rate hit a record high and the United States advised against travel there.

The seven-day incidence rate - the number of people per 100,000 to be infected over the last week - hit 399.8 on Tuesday, up from 386.5 on Monday, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed.

Access to healthcare is expensive and, in an emergency, villagers are forced to walk for hours to the nearest health facility. For women, the lack of facilities, combined with patriarchal attitudes, means they have had no control over their reproductive health. But Communities Health Africa Trust (Chat) organises mobile healthcare outreach to poorly served communities such as Lekiji. Chat identifies vulnerable communities with limited access to health facilities and significant family planning needs, and brings health provision and education to their door.

Lack of roads is no barrier to their work. If they cannot reach the communities by car, they switch to an older form of transport: camel. In the past three years Chat has reached more than 100,000 people with behaviour-changing messages that focus on family planning but include TB, HIV and Covid prevention services across 14 counties in Kenya.

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