Exclusive: NHS England has dramatically increased recruitment of workers from states with critical medical staff shortages
Brexit has left the NHS increasingly dependent on doctors and nurses from poor “red list” countries, from which the World Health Organization says it is wrong to recruit.
The health service in England has hired tens of thousands of health staff from countries such as Nigeria, Ghana and Zimbabwe since the UK left the EU single market at the end of 2020.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Officials explore restricting incentive to allocate greater funds to farms with less money and more nature
The richest farmers will not be able to apply for post-Brexit nature funding under plans for England being considered by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Farming groups and climate experts have warned that such a plan would “leave farmers in the cold” and make it more difficult for the UK to reach net zero by 2050.
Continue reading...Exclusive: union umbrella body calls for new cooperation agreement ahead of Keir Starmer’s reset talks with Brussels
The UK should forge much closer ties with Europe amid an increasingly “volatile and unpredictable” global economy, Britain’s biggest trade unions will argue as they push for new workers’ rights across the continent.
In its first major intervention on Europe in five years, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) will call for a “much-needed” closer relationship with the EU, in a joint statement with European counterparts.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer won praise for taking the UK ‘back to the heart of Europe’ at the weekend, but will it be a long-term move?
Britain is back. That was the concise verdict of Eléonore Caroit, the vice-chair of the French national assembly’s foreign affairs committee. And the optics of Sunday’s crisis talks on Ukraine bore this out, with Keir Starmer at the very centre of the leaders’ joint photo.
“You are back on the scene, of the leadership in Europe,” Caroit told the BBC on Monday morning. James MacClearly, the Liberal Democrat MP who speaks for the party on Europe, was equally adamant, praising the prime minister for taking this chance “to bring us back to the heart of Europe where we belong”.
Continue reading...London mayor to tell meeting that mobility scheme would benefit young people and economy
Sadiq Khan will tell EU diplomats “Brexit was a mistake” and renew his backing for a youth mobility scheme as he argues strengthened ties with the bloc would help offset Donald Trump’s threatened tariff regime.
At a meeting on Tuesday, the mayor of London will tell delegates that Britain’s withdrawal from the trading bloc “continues to have a negative impact”, and he will promise to make the case for “being bold” in efforts to seek closer alignment.
Continue reading...End of ‘de minimis’ policy for Chinese goods also expected to hit bigger fashion retailers such as Asos and Boohoo
Many UK-based independent sellers on marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon could suffer a significant hit to US sales from planned changes to import rules under Donald Trump, with experts comparing the impact to a second Brexit.
The new rules, which mean all parcels originating or made in China and being sold into the US must pay import duty – of as much as 15% on fashion items – and an additional 10% tariff, are also expected to impact bigger online clothing retailers such as Asos and Boohoo.
Continue reading...With member states keen to link quotas to any deal, António Costa says defence and fisheries ‘are different things’
The EU will not let the question of fishing rights derail a pact with the UK on security and defence, the president of the European Council has said.
The comments from António Costa, who took over as the European Council president in December, is a boost for Keir Starmer, amid frustration among UK officials over EU insistence on linking a security deal to other demands, notably fishing rights.
Continue reading...Reform UK leader claims ‘industrial collaboration’ with EU will give UK ‘less flexibility’ to make deal with US
Nigel Farage has said the UK could be “friendly” with the EU but did not outline what kind of ties with the bloc his party would support, PA Media reports. PA says:
The Reform UK leader said that “industrial collaboration” with the EU will give the UK “less flexibility” to make a deal with the US.
His comments came in an interview on the Today programme after his party edged ahead of Labour to top a voting poll from YouGov for the first time.
Continue reading...PM says UK does not have to choose between Europe and US, before meeting EU leaders in Brussels
Keir Starmer has said he wants an “ambitious security partnership” with the EU, while insisting the UK does not have to choose between Europe and the US.
The prime minister was speaking before meeting EU leaders in Brussels to discuss security and defence, the first time a British leader has attended a European Council meeting since Britain left the EU five years ago.
Continue reading...Home secretary rules out return to full union with bloc as Keir Starmer prepares for talks in Brussels this week
Keir Starmer will seek to improve customs arrangements with Europe without returning to a full union with the bloc, the home secretary has said.
As the prime minister heads to Brussels as part of his attempted reset with the EU, Yvette Cooper said it was still a red line that the UK would not be part of a customs union or single market.
Continue reading...Former Labour leader says government should show greater willingness to work with bloc
Labour needs to end its “cycle of hesitation” over Europe and press ahead with an ambitious new relationship with the European Union, the party’s former leader Neil Kinnock has said.
Keir Starmer will head to a Brussels dinner with EU leaders this week as he attempts to negotiate a security and defence pact with the bloc. It is the first summit of its type to be attended by a British prime minister since Brexit.
Continue reading...New safety regulations have led SMEs to stop sales to bloc and Northern Ireland while they work out how to comply
Small businesses are warning they have had to pause selling their products in the European Union and Northern Ireland since mid-December while they work out how to comply with new EU product safety regulations that caught many of them unawares.
Skye Weavers, a small family business on the Isle of Skye, says it has missed out on sales of its scarves, shawls and blankets to customers in both markets after halting internet orders from those locations because of the rule change.
Continue reading...General secretary highlights ‘legacy of 14 years of falling living standards under the Tories’
In an article for the Guardian, the Labour MP Clive Lewis said Rachel Reeves’ growth speech this week means the party has abandoned its pre-election green commitments.
Here is an extract.
A growing suspicion looms that our government lacks a coherent governing philosophy or ideological compass beyond the vague pursuit of “growth”. But if growth at any cost is the mantra, the costs will soon become painfully clear. Why pledge to be clean and green, only to undermine that commitment with a Heathrow expansion promise six months later? Burning the furniture to stay warm doesn’t signal confidence – it reeks of panic.
Regardless of the motivation, Labour has crossed the Rubicon. Approving Heathrow expansion is an irreversible break with our pre-election pledges. In 2021, Reeves stood in front of the Labour party conference and declared that she would be the “first-ever green chancellor”. Now, Labour is accused of obstructing the climate and nature bill and abandoning its ambitious decarbonisation plans. The rapid turnaround is striking …
I do a bit. There are nine million working age adults who are not working. And as we compete globally with countries like, you know, South Korea, China, India, you know, we need a work ethic. We need everybody to be making a contribution. … we need to lift our game and to up our game.
Chris Philp was the architect of the Liz Truss budget which crashed the economy and sent family mortgages rocketing.
After the Conservatives’ economic failure left working people worse off, it takes some real brass neck for the Tory top team to tell the public that it’s really all their fault.
I was making the case that tax cuts…need to be accompanied by spending control or spending reductions … in order to show that the books are being balanced and to avoid the market reaction that we saw …
I made that case internally … but it wasn’t unfortunately listened to. I think had my suggestions been listened to a bit earlier, then there was a there’s a much higher chance that [the mini-budget] would have worked. And it’ll be always a matter of regret that those points weren’t taken on board.
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Reeves says the supply side of the economy has been held back.
Politicians have lacked the courage to confront the factors holding back growth.
They have accepted the status quo. They have been the barrier, not the enablers, of change.
Without economic growth, we cannot improve the living standards of ordinary working people, because growth isn’t simply about lines on a graph. It’s about the pounds in people’s pockets, the vibrancy of our high streets and the thriving businesses that create wealth, jobs and new opportunities for us, for our children and grandchildren.
We will have succeeded in our mission when working people are better off.
Continue reading...MP for Hayes and Harlington, whose constituency includes Heathrow, says homes will either be unliveable or need to be demolished
Q: Are doctors able to recognise depression? And can they decide if that affects someone’s capacity to make a decision about their health?
Whitty says doctors can identify depression. But he says it is harder for them to assess if that is affecting capacity.
That’s where help from colleagues from psychiatry, mental health more widely, is going to be useful. But that should be good medical practice, in my view, under all circumstances.
Certainly what I wouldn’t want is to be in a situation where the existence of the fact that someone who has a terminal diagnosis has some degree of low mood in itself just rules them out from any kind of medical intervention, this or any other. That shouldn’t be the case.
Continue reading...Pressure growing on Labour to improve trade with EU as Rachel Reeves admits Brexit damaged UK
Keir Starmer is under growing pressure to forge closer economic links with Europe five years on from Brexit, as a major new poll shows voters clearly favour prioritising more trade with the EU over the US.
The MRP survey of almost 15,000 people by YouGov for the Best for Britain thinktank shows more people in every constituency in England, Scotland and Wales back closer arrangements with the EU rather than more transatlantic trade with Washington. MRP polls use large data samples to estimate opinion at a local level
Continue reading...PM stressed shared ‘unbreakable commitment to Nato and Ukraine’ with Poland in meeting with Donald Tusk
Keir Starmer has urged world leaders to “double down” in their efforts to support Ukraine during a visit to Poland, days before Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency risks jeopardising international solidarity on the issue.
Speaking alongside the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, after the pair discussed a proposed defence-focused treaty, Starmer dodged questions on the possible impact of Trump, but insisted the only way forward was “peace on Ukraine’s terms”.
Continue reading...Leader Ed Davey to call for talks to begin immediately, urging ministers to be ‘far more positive, far more ambitious’
The Liberal Democrats are to call for the government to seek a formal customs union with the EU to boost growth and insulate the UK from the impacts of a Trump presidency, a move that will place new pressure on Keir Starmer over Europe.
The changed Lib Dem stance – the party’s election manifesto argued only for closer links with Europe – will be made by its leader, Ed Davey, in a speech in London on Thursday.
Continue reading...Technology secretary Peter Kyle has the task of making Britain a leading player in the AI revolution, but says economic growth will not come at the cost of online safety
With the NHS still struggling, a prisons crisis still teetering and Britain’s borrowing costs soaring, there are few easy jobs going in Keir Starmer’s cabinet at present.
But even in such difficult times, the task of convincing Silicon Valley’s finest to help make Britain a leader in the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution – all while one leading tech boss uses the Labour government as a regular punching bag and others ostentatiously move closer to Donald Trump – is among the most challenging.
Continue reading...Chancellor’s mission to Beijing weighted with greater expectations
Rachel Reeves hailed a new era of “respectful and consistent future relations with China” as pressure grew on the embattled chancellor to deliver on her government’s central promise to fire up UK economic growth.
After meeting China’s vice-premier, He Lifeng, in Beijing, Reeves said Britain’s relationship with the world’s second largest economy would be “frank and open on areas where we disagree”, while stressing it would be pragmatic in “finding opportunities for safe trade and investment”.
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