Category Archives: Politics

Robots and cow mattresses: £168m to be invested in UK farming

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Farming groups welcome grants but say money has been recycled from previous underspend

Farmers in the UK will gain access to robots that can harvest crops in the absence of migrant workers, sensors on tractors to measure the nutrient level of soils, and cow mattresses to help prevent lameness in dairy cattle, under government measures announced on Tuesday.

Mark Spencer, the farming minister, hailed the £168m in grants to farmers as a way for farmers to increase productivity and improve animal health. “The role farmers play in putting food on our tables as well as looking after our countryside is crucial. We know that sustainable food production depends on a healthy environment, the two go hand in hand,” he told the annual National Farmers’ Union conference in Birmingham.

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Call to back Rishi Sunak on NI protocol deal amid fears ministers may quit

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Senior Brexiter Maria Caulfield says PM must be given ‘time and space’ to conclude talks with EU

A senior Brexiter minister has urged colleagues to give Rishi Sunak “time and space” to finish negotiations with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol, as warnings grew of potential ministerial resignations.

Sunak has been told he is facing the possibility ministers may quit if his deal does not significantly rewrite the protocol or remove any powers for the European court of justice.

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Junior doctors in England to strike for 72 hours in March

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Ten of thousands to take part in industrial action in escalation of row between NHS staff and government

Hundreds of thousands of operations and medical appointments will be cancelled in England next month and progress in tackling the huge care backlog will be derailed as the NHS prepares to face the most widespread industrial action in its history.

Junior doctors are poised to join nurses and ambulance workers in mass continuous walkouts in March after members of the British Medical Association (BMA) voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action.

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Dame Angela McLean to be UK’s first female chief scientific adviser

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Professor of mathematical biology to succeed Sir Patrick Vallance after advising MoD and working with Sage during pandemic

Dame Angela McLean has been appointed as the UK’s chief scientific adviser – the first woman to hold the post.

McLean will take over the role of providing independent scientific advice to the prime minister and members of the cabinet on 1 April, after the end of Sir Patrick Vallance’s five-year term. She will also advise on aspects of science and technology policy, and work to improve the quality and use of scientific evidence and advice in government.

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Texting parents may help schools tackle ‘truancy crisis’ in England, say experts

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Call for more personalised approach on back of broader efforts to build deeper relationships with families

Personalised text messages to parents could be used to help improve school attendance rates, as teachers struggle to re-engage children and their families after the disruption of Covid, according to experts.

Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said there was a “national persistent truancy crisis” in England, with significantly more children now missing lessons compared with before the pandemic.

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Government to hold new talks with EU on NI protocol ‘in coming days’, says foreign secretary – as it happened

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James Cleverly’s comments come after No 10 said ‘no deal has been done as yet’

James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, will discuss the Northern Ireland protocol in a call with the European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič this afternoon, PA Media reports. They will be joined by the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, amid expectations both sides are inching closer to a deal.

Micheál Martin, the Irish foreign minister and tánaiste (deputy PM), has urged UK politicians not to play politics with the Northern Ireland protocol negotiations. Speaking in Brussels, where he has been attending the EU foreign affairs council, he said:

I think what’s very important is that everybody now from here on think about the people of Northern Ireland.

Not power play, not politics elsewhere, I think the people of Northern Ireland have had enough of that, of people playing politics with their future. And, in my view, my only concern is that the people of Northern Ireland voted [in last May’s assembly election], they want their institutions [at Stormont] restored.

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Suella Braverman hints at opposition to ditching Northern Ireland protocol bill

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Home secretary indicates she does not think Rishi Sunak should abandon legislation in seeking deal with EU

The home secretary, Suella Braverman, has hinted Rishi Sunak should not abandon the Northern Ireland protocol bill in his quest for a deal to break the deadlock, as hopes faded that an agreement could be struck by Tuesday.

Braverman, a former chair of the European Research Group (ERG) of hard Brexiters, struck a note of caution about plans to freeze the bill. The legislation would have allowed the UK to unilaterally override the protocol. Sunak is prepared to drop the bill should agreement be reached for changes.

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Refugee charity rejects Tory vice-chair’s claim they are ‘just as bad as people-smugglers’

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Care4Calais says it offers refugees aid and dignity and does not want them to cross Channel by dangerous means

A volunteer organisation has dismissed a claim by the new Conservative deputy chair that Calais refugee charities are “just as bad as people-smugglers”.

Lee Anderson, who was given the role by Rishi Sunak during the prime minister’s recent reshuffle, accused refugee organisations based in northern France of “fuelling” people’s desire to cross the English Channel in small boats.

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SNP leadership: Humza Yousaf and Ash Regan announce plans to stand

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The Scottish health secretary and former Scottish minister enter race to replace Nicola Sturgeon

Humza Yousaf and Ash Regan have become the first candidates to officially announce plans to stand for SNP leader, while Keir Starmer is expected to urge Scottish voters on Sunday to “take another look at Labour”.

Yousaf, the Scottish health secretary, and former minister Regan announced their plans to stand in Scotland’s Sunday Mail.

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Children returning from school trips delayed for six hours amid Calais strikes

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Home Office rejects suggestions strikes by Border Force staff in Calais, Dunkirk, Dover and Coquelles impacting wait times

Children and teachers returning to the UK from half-term school trips have endured delays of more than six hours at Calais, amid strike action by Border Force staff.

P&O Ferries told customers that long wait times were “due to the queues at border control who are also on strike”, though the government rejected suggestions that industrial action was having an impact on wait times.

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Sunak urges Europe to use weapons stockpiles to help Ukraine war

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UK prime minister says Kyiv needs more ammunition, air defence, heavy armoury and longer range weapons

European countries should stop hoarding weapon stockpiles and give them to Ukraine to allow Kyiv to make a decisive assault, Rishi Sunak has told the Munich security conference.

The British prime minister said Ukraine needed more ammunition, air defence, heavy armoury and longer range weapons, amid frustration in London and Kyiv that some European powers are refusing to hand over arms on the basis they cannot afford to reduce their own defences.

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Rishi Sunak to call for new Nato charter to ensure ‘lasting peace’ for Ukraine

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UK PM expected to urge leaders at Munich Security Conference to ‘double down on our military support’ for Kyiv

Rishi Sunak will call on world leaders to ensure a “lasting peace” for Ukraine with the establishment of a new Nato charter to help the country defend itself “again and again” in the face of any future declarations of war by Russia.

Fresh from hosting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in the UK last week, Sunak is expected to call for countries to “double down on our military support” and warn that “the security and sovereignty of every nation” is at stake.

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DUP leader keeps hopes of protocol deal on track as he declares ‘progress’ in talks

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Jeffrey Donaldson says ‘big moment’ looming in Rishi Sunak’s effort to cut a post-Brexit deal with EU

The Democratic Unionist party has kept on track Rishi Sunak’s attempt to change the Northern Ireland protocol, declaring “progress” in Downing Street’s talks with the EU.

Jeffrey Donaldson said on Friday a “big moment” was looming in the UK’s effort to cut a deal with Brussels over Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland. The DUP leader said his party would withhold judgment on any deal – which is expected next week – until it had seen the text.

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Swinney calls for end to SNP divisions after ruling himself out as leader

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Deputy first minister urges party to unite and ‘anchor SNP in mainstream of Scottish politics’

John Swinney, Scotland’s deputy first minister and one of the Scottish National party’s longest-serving senior figures, has called for the party to unite and focus on concerns of mainstream voters as he ruled himself out of the contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon.

Swinney, who is widely respected among the SNP membership and was its leader 20 years ago, said the party needed “a fresh perspective” after Sturgeon’s shock resignation on Wednesday.

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Rishi Sunak travels to Belfast in sign NI protocol deal is imminent

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Visit suggests announcement of UK-EU solution on Northern Ireland could come as early as Friday

Rishi Sunak arrived in Belfast on Thursday night, in a sign that a deal on the Northern Ireland protocol is imminent.

The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, will also travel to Brussels on Friday for talks with the European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič.

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Truss to call for tough sanctions against China if it escalates Taiwan tensions

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Former PM will warn in Tokyo ‘free world is in danger’ in apparent attempt to put pressure on Rishi Sunak

Britain and the rest of the G7 should urgently agree a tough package of sanctions to impose on China if it escalates military tensions with Taiwan, Liz Truss will argue, as she uses her first public overseas speech to pile pressure on Rishi Sunak.

Speaking in Tokyo on Friday, the former prime minister will urge her successor to be more hawkish in standing up to Beijing, warning coordinated action is needed to block “the rise of a totalitarian China” given “the free world is in danger”.

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Sturgeon exit may delay new Scotland independence vote by five years

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SNP scraps conference on first minister’s proposal to use next general election as ‘de facto referendum’

Senior figures in the Scottish National party believe Nicola Sturgeon’s shock resignation could delay their effort to stage another independence referendum by at least five years.

The party’s national executive committee confirmed on Thursday evening that Sturgeon’s plan – to stage a special conference on her proposals to use the next election as a single-issue “de facto referendum” on independence – had been scrapped.

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Scottish leadership election leaves gender reform hanging in balance

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SNP politicians fear quarrel weighing on leadership contest, while any compromise could break coalition with Greens

The future of transgender rights in Scotland remains in limbo, as SNP politicians warn that a leadership contest must not become dominated by ongoing rows on gender recognition reform.

Meanwhile, Scottish Greens sources suggest that any rowback on reform could lead to the collapse of the party’s power-sharing agreement with the SNP.

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PR firm behind Tory pandemic response linked to Covid inquiry

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Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group call this a ‘conflict of interest’ in preliminary hearing

The team behind the Covid inquiry has insisted there is no conflict of interest in having a PR firm which worked on Whitehall’s response to the pandemic running a listening exercise with bereaved families.

The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group reacted with dismay after their concerns were dismissed, saying they were “unbelievably let down”.

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SNP Westminster leader hints at major rethink of Nicola Sturgeon’s independence plan – UK politics live

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Stephen Flynn suggests party conference on next steps to push independence could now be delayed

A senior ally of Jeremy Corbyn has dismissed as “nonsense” suggestions Keir Starmer privately fought against the former leader’s handling of antisemitism while in his shadow cabinet.

Diane Abbott, who at the time was shadow home secretary, disputed the defence levied by supporters of Starmer that he spoke up about the issue at the time, given the criticism he has faced for serving in Corbyn’s top team as shadow Brexit secretary.

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