Category Archives: Politics

Marking boycott may delay degrees of more than 1,000 Durham students

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University says about 20% of final year students will be unable to graduate if industrial action continues

More than 1,000 final year students at Durham University could be left without a degree this summer because of the marking boycott disrupting universities across the UK.

Durham, one of 145 universities affected by the industrial action over pay and working conditions called by the University and College Union (UCU), said about 20% of its 5,300 final year students would be unable to graduate.

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Home Office delays have devastating effect on child asylum seekers – report

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Children are being left in limbo so long that they are at risk of harm, social workers warn

Lone child asylum seekers are facing fivefold increases in delays in having their claims processed by the Home Office, with devastating consequences, according to a new report.

Social workers, legal professionals and the children themselves have warned that the impact of being left in limbo about their future for so long includes the risk of suicide, self-harm and persistent insomnia.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie.

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Sending asylum seekers to Rwanda will cost £169k a person, says Home Office

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‘Impact assessment’ of the illegal migration bill reignites bitter rows over the controversial scheme

The cost of sending a single person seeking asylum to Rwanda could be nearly £170,000, according to government analysis, which has immediately reignited bitter rows over the controversial scheme.

A long-awaited “impact assessment” of the illegal migration bill has conceded that ministers do not know the overall costs of implementing plans to detain and deport anyone who arrives in the UK by irregular means.

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Keir Starmer promises to ease tensions between Labour and India

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Party leader seeks to win back British Indian voters after anger over party’s perceived support for Pakistan in Kashmir dispute

Keir Starmer has promised to reset relations between the Labour party and India after years of tension between the two.

The Labour leader said on Monday that his party had made mistakes in its approach to relations with the world’s most populous country, and that it would seek closer ties if elected to power next year.

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Rishi Sunak admits NHS faces ‘long-term challenges’ after damning report – UK politics live

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PM likely to be questioned during Nottingham visit on King’s Fund report that says NHS is ‘more a laggard than a leader’

Lord Bethell, the former health minister, has welcomed the announcement from the government today about targeted lung cancer screening. But he thinks the government should go further.

The review by Javed Khan, published last summer, recommended raising the age at which people can buy cigarettes “by one year every year until no one can buy a tobacco product in this country”. Many Tories strongly oppose measures like this on libertarian grounds, and the government has not adopted the plan.

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UK aid should not fund private hospitals in developing countries, says Oxfam

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Development charity says patients denied treatment or held hostage until fees paid in private facilities in India and Kenya

Private hospitals in India and Kenya accused of refusing people on low incomes vital healthcare, or holding them hostage until bills have been paid, benefit from UK government investment funds, according to a report by Oxfam.

Investments worth hundreds of millions of pounds by government-backed agencies are used to facilitate the “impoverishment and even the imprisonment of the very people [the private hospitals] are supposed to be helping”, said the development charity.

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Queen was asked to block Evgeny Lebedev’s peerage, claims documentary

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Exclusive: Channel 4 film says officials contacted the palace in 2020 owing to concerns about Lord Lebedev’s father’s links to Putin regime

Government officials asked whether the late Queen would block Evgeny Lebedev’s peerage because of concerns that he could be a national security risk due to his father’s links to the Putin regime, a documentary has claimed.

The aides contacted Buckingham Palace in July 2020 to request that the monarch intervene, which she was constitutionally entitled to do, after Boris Johnson decided to press ahead with the controversial peerage despite warnings from the intelligence agencies, according to the film-makers.

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Union fury at reports Sunak might overrule some public sector pay rises

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Recommendations from independent pay review bodies could be rejected by PM if he deems them unaffordable

Unions have expressed outrage over reports the prime minister plans to block public sector wage increases owing to fears about pushing up UK inflation, which remains worse than in other leading economies.

Recommendations from the independent pay review bodies could be overruled by Rishi Sunak if they are considered unaffordable, the Times reported, because of concerns they could set off a “wage-price spiral”.

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‘A tour de force’: tributes pour in for Margaret McDonagh, linchpin of Tony Blair’s New Labour

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Party’s first female general secretary, who has died aged 61, was essential part of team behind party’s 1997 landslide victory

Margaret McDonagh, Labour’s first female general secretary, has been hailed as a “tour de force” and an essential part of the team that secured the 1997 landslide election victory for the party, after it was announced that she had died at the age of 61.

Baroness McDonagh, who was elevated to the House of Lords in 2004, was, in effect, Peter Mandelson’s deputy during the 1997 election and went on to oversee a second dominant campaign in 2001. She became the party’s general secretary in 1998. She had been diagnosed with brain cancer in 2021.

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SNP leader says general election win would be mandate for independence push

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Humza Yousaf’s proposal in event of a victory in Scotland falls short of strategy backed by Nicola Sturgeon

Humza Yousaf has said a win in Scotland for the Scottish National party in the next general election would be a mandate to apply further pressure on Westminster for Scottish independence.

The proposal, made by the SNP leader as he addressed party members gathered in Dundee, falls short of the de facto referendum strategy favoured by his predecessor, Nicola Sturgeon.

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From Brexit to Beyoncé: why UK inflation is still so painfully high

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The cost of living is falling in Europe and the US but is still rising in Britain. We look at the major culprits

The Bank of England has struggled to understand why inflation remains high in the UK. It has fallen in France, Germany, the US and especially Spain, where inflation dropped to 2.9% in May compared with the UK figure of 8.7%. Here we look at the many reasons for the current crisis.

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James Cleverly rejects claim he will stand down at next election

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Foreign secretary describes newspaper report of frustration with Tory party rows with as ‘nonsense’

The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has described suggestions that he was considering standing down from parliament at the next general election as “nonsense”.

Cleverly declared he was “standing at the next election” after newspaper reports claimed he was considering whether to stand.

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Ever-higher mortgage rates will leave Rishi Sunak feeling low

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Tories are likely to bear the brunt of homeowning voters’ anger in marginal constituencies in next year’s election

As the former chancellor who warned presciently during last summer’s leadership contest that Liz Truss would crash the economy, Rishi Sunak’s calm competence was meant to be his key electoral selling point.

But after Thursday’s half-point rate rise by the Bank of England left thousands of voters facing eye-watering mortgage hikes, a shirt-sleeved Sunak was reduced to insisting he was “totally, 100% on it” when it comes to fighting inflation.

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Rishi Sunak says he is ‘totally, 100% on it’ in battle against inflation – UK politics live

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Prime minister says he knows people will be anxious about rate rise but ‘it is going to be OK’

Rishi Sunak has posted a thread on Twitter setting out what the government is doing to help people with the cost of living. It starts here.

He ends by saying “if we can hold our nerve” he is confident the plan will deliver.

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‘It’s not going to happen’: Ben Wallace expects hopes of top Nato job to be dashed

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UK defence secretary had earlier shown interest in the role, but the US is believed to want Jens Stoltenberg to stay in post

The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said he does not expect to be the next head of Nato, amid claims that the US wants the current leader to stay.

In an interview with the Economist, the Conservative MP said “it’s not going to happen”, adding that he thinks the United States wants the current secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, to remain in post for another year.

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Labour piles pressure on Sunak with plan to prevent ‘mortgage catastrophe’

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Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves says party would force banks to take a range of steps to protect borrowers

Labour has piled further pressure on Rishi Sunak to take action to help struggling mortgage holders as the Bank of England prepares to raise interest rates again to levels not seen since before the 2008 financial crash.

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said on Wednesday that if Labour were currently in power, it would force banks to offer a range of support to borrowers, including letting them move on to interest-only mortgages and extending their repayment period.

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MPs vote down Labour attempt to revive animal welfare bill

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Motion to bring back legislation on puppy smuggling and live exports that was part of Tory manifesto rejected in Commons

MPs have voted down an attempt by Labour to revive the government’s animal welfare bill.

Last month ministers announced they were dropping the kept animals bill, which was part of the Tories’ 2019 manifesto. The legislation aimed to clamp down on puppy smuggling and dog theft, as well as banning the live exports of farm animals.

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Keir Starmer ‘eyes dozens of new peers to aid Labour government’

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Party reportedly looking to increase share in Lords, as Tory majority ‘could make life difficult’

Labour is reportedly devising plans to appoint dozens of peers to the House of Lords to prevent a Keir Starmer government being stymied by the upper chamber.

There are 174 Labour peers, making up 22% of the Lords, compared with 263 Conservatives and 183 unaligned crossbench peers.

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Tory MPs expected to back Labour plans to reintroduce animal welfare bill

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Conservative backbenchers plan to speak in favour of opposition motion to force government’s hand

Rishi Sunak is facing a potential headache as backbench Conservative MPs prepare to support a Labour plan to bring back ditched animal welfare policies.

Last month, ministers announced they were dropping the kept animals bill, which was part of the Tories’ 2019 manifesto. The legislation was intended to ban live exports of farm animals as well as clamp down on puppy smuggling and dog theft.

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Foreign Office accused of ignoring Sudan atrocity warnings

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Exclusive: Charities and civil groups say FO pursued an over-optimistic agenda of ‘democracy first’ in Sudan

The UK Foreign Office has been accused of ignoring repeated warnings from Sudanese groups and western experts that Sudan was teetering on the brink of a conflict that would lead to mass atrocities and identity-based crimes.

Sudan has been gripped by violence since two rival generals went to war against each other in April. The Commons foreign affairs select committee is conducting an inquiry into Whitehall’s anticipation of the crisis and the level of support provided to British citizens trapped in Sudan.

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