Category Archives: Politics

UK criticised for failing to pay $300m in promised climate funds ahead of Cop27

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Missed deadline for money pledged to assist developing countries sends ‘strong negative signal’ ahead of Egypt summit, say experts

The British government has come under fire for sending a “strong negative signal” ahead of the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt, by failing to make $300m (£260m) of promised climate finance payments.

The UK has already caused upset among developing countries hit hardest by the climate crisis, after a statement from Downing Street that Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, would not attend Cop27 due to his focus on domestic issues.

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Labour needs more ‘coherent narrative’ to win next election, Starmer told

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Exclusive: Labour Together leader calls for ‘laser-sharp focus’ on voters and for party’s priorities to be made clear

Keir Starmer has been urged to get Labour on a general election footing with a “laser-sharp” focus on wooing voters with a small number of key pledges that demonstrate the party’s priorities rather than a sprawling plethora of policies.

With activists gearing up to take on Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives in 2024, a new head of Labour Together – a network of MPs, staffers, members and thinktanks – has been appointed, who believes the party should build a more “coherent narrative”.

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Rishi Sunak preparing years of tax rises to plug £50bn fiscal black hole

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PM set to hike taxes across the board to repair nation’s finances after Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget

Rishi Sunak is preparing years of tax rises for Britain in an effort to make up for a £50bn fiscal hole left by Liz Truss’s disastrous tenure in Downing Street, according to a Treasury insider.

After a meeting between the prime minister and Jeremy Hunt on Monday to plan the upcoming autumn statement, a Treasury source said things were going to get “rough”.

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UK-backed battery firm Britishvolt considers entering administration

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Company struggling to find investors willing to fund effort to build giant £3.8bn ‘gigafactory’ in north-east

The UK government-backed battery startup Britishvolt is on the brink of entering administration with the potential loss of almost 300 jobs, after it struggled to find investors willing to fund its effort to build a giant £3.8bn “gigafactory” in north-east England.

The company had considered an administration as early as Monday, two sources with knowledge of Britishvolt’s operations told the Guardian. Britishvolt has lined up the accountancy firm EY to carry out the administration if it goes ahead.

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Suella Braverman admits to sending official documents to her personal email address six times – live

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Home secretary makes admission in letter to committee of MPs

Priti Patel signed off on hotel accommodation for asylum seekers whenever it was required, her allies have told PA Media. Echoing a briefing given to Danny Shaw earlier (see 9.41am), PA Media says:

A source close to Patel told the PA news agency: “There was never any overcrowding [at the Manston centre] when she was there. What would happen was if it got to the point where people were getting worried about conditions we would sign off on more hotels.”

Despite the political difficulties, the cost to the taxpayer and the potential for a media backlash, Patel agreed to hotels because “it was the right thing to do”.

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UK government’s £400 energy bill support going unclaimed

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Many households who use non-smart prepayment meters are failing to redeem vouchers, says PayPoint

Government energy bill support worth as much as £400 over the winter is not reaching many households who use prepayment meters, according to data from a payments company.

Households with prepayment energy meters are entitled to vouchers giving them monthly discounts, but only half of the expected number have been used so far, according to PayPoint, which handles top-up payments in shops across the UK.

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UK minister criticised over ‘crass and archaic’ trope about Chinese people

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Mark Spencer spoke of possibility ‘some little man in China’ could be listening in to his conversations

A UK government minister has been criticised for using a “crass and archaic” trope when talking about Chinese people during a broadcast interview.

The environment minister Mark Spencer referred to the possibility that “some little man in China” could be listening in to his conversations when discussing reports a device belonging to the former prime minister and foreign secretary Liz Truss had been compromised by foreign agents.

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Northern Ireland power-sharing system not fit for purpose, says Irish PM

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Micheál Martin says electoral system ‘should not be one that constantly reinforces polarisation’

Ireland’s prime minister has said the system of sharing power between unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland is no longer fit for purpose and should be reviewed.

Micheál Martin’s remarks come amid claims the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) wants to delay a new Stormont assembly election as long as possible to give talks over the disputed Brexit protocol a chance to take off.

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Ministers creating ‘wild west’ conditions with use of personal phones

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Unsecured mobiles, email accounts and WhatsApp chats could pose national security risk, intelligence experts warn

Ministers risk creating “wild west” conditions in matters of national security by the increased use of personal email and phones to conduct confidential business, intelligence experts and former officials have warned.

After a week tainted by a row over the use of a personal email account by the home secretary, it was revealed on Sunday that Liz Truss’s mobile is alleged to have been hacked by overseas agents.

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Global anger at Sunak’s Cop27 snub that raises fears over UK’s climate crisis stance

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PM accused of ‘washing his hands’ of leadership on international climate action with decision not to attend talks

Rishi Sunak’s decision to snub the Cop27 UN climate talks, and to keep King Charles from attending, has angered and upset countries around the world, risking the UK’s standing on the world stage and raising concerns over his government’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis.

Several developing countries told the Guardian of their dismay. Carlos Fuller, Belize’s ambassador to the UN, said: “I can understand why the king was asked not to attend – keeping him out of the fray. However, as the principal UK policymaker and the Cop26 president, the PM should have led the summit.

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Mobiles are inherently insecure, which might be a surprise to British politicians | Dan Sabbagh

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We may never know just what happened with Liz Truss’s mobile, but it’s clear that ministers need to up their security game

It is no longer news to point out that a mobile phone, if hacked, can be the ultimate tool for surveillance. But the question is whether it is a surprise to British politicians – and whether they are using their devices sensibly or carelessly.

We will almost certainly never know precisely what happened to Liz Truss’s phone. The then foreign secretary had to abruptly drop her main number and take up a new, government-issued handset in the summer, just as it emerged she was likely to be the next prime minister after Boris Johnson.

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Voters choose Sunak’s Tories over Labour to repair economy, new poll reveals

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Rishi Sunak’s arrival in Downing Street is already helping to repair the party’s reputation for financial management

Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives have overturned Labour’s lead in terms of who voters trust most to manage the economy, a new poll for the Observer has revealed.

The new prime minister is currently drawing up tax rises and spending cuts designed to fill a £40bn fiscal hole left by Liz Truss’s disastrous time in Downing Street, with warnings that any significant attempt to cut Whitehall budgets will lead to huge pressure on public services. It comes with new analysis revealing that freezing public service spending would save £20bn but would also lead to a return to the austerity of the 2010s.

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Michael Gove says Tories should apologise for Liz Truss’s ‘holiday from reality’

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Reinstalled levelling up secretary says he understands public anger at party’s choice of Truss and her tax cuts for the rich

Michael Gove has said the Conservative party owes the public an apology for installing Liz Truss as leader.

Gove, who was reinstated as levelling up secretary by Rishi Sunak this week, acknowledged that the Tories “made the wrong choice this summer about the path we should take”.

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Braverman’s secret meetings with ‘anti-woke’ MP flagged by officials before she quit

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Civil servants say there was ‘significant disquiet’ over home secretary Suella Braverman’s dealings with Tory rightwinger John Hayes

Home Office officials raised concerns over a series of secretive meetings Suella Braverman held with an influential rightwing backbench MP weeks before she was forced to resign over leaking sensitive information to him, the Observer has been told.

In addition, sources have claimed that the home secretary appears to have instructed officials to look at potentially implementing hardline proposals cooked up by a rightwing thinktank that would in effect prohibit “genuine refugees” from settling in the UK, a move that threatens an even more uncompromising approach to asylum seekers.

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Government urged to investigate report Liz Truss’s phone was hacked

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Breach discovered during Tory leadership in summer but details suppressed, the Mail on Sunday reports

The government has been urged to launch an urgent investigation after reports that Liz Truss’s phone was hacked.

The breach was discovered when Truss, then the foreign secretary, was running for the Tory leadership in the summer, but details were suppressed by the then-prime minister, Boris Johnson, and the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, the Mail on Sunday reported.

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No 10 alarm as Boris Johnson plans to attend Cop27 climate summit

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Ex-PM’s Cop27 visit is seen as snub to Rishi Sunak as Labour attacks government’s policy failures on environmental crisis

A row over prime minister Rishi Sunak’s refusal to attend the Cop27 climate summit took an extraordinary twist on Saturday night as the Observer was informed that his predecessor but one – Boris Johnson – is planning to attend the event.

Several sources said they had been told that Johnson is intending to go to the crucial meeting of world leaders in Egypt to show his solidarity with the battle against the climate crisis.

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Qatar lavished British MPs with gifts ahead of World Cup

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MPs who received gifts later appeared to speak favourably about Qatar in parliamentary debates

Qatar has spent more money on gifts and trips for British MPs in the past year than any other country, according to Observer analysis that reveals the Gulf state’s lobbying efforts ahead of next month’s football World Cup.

The Qatari government made gifts to members of parliament worth £251,208 in the 12 months to October 2022, including luxury hotel stays, business-class flights and tickets to horse-racing events.

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James Cleverly calls for countries to unite to deprive terrorists of funds

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UK foreign secretary was speaking at memorial ceremony for victims of 2008 attacks in Mumbai

Countries must work together to deprive terrorists of funding in order to prevent deadly attacks, the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said.

Cleverly is in India for a two-day meeting of the UN security council’s counter-terrorism committee, which is being held in Mumbai and Delhi.

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The Sun always backs the winner: can the Murdoch papers warm to Keir Starmer?

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Former DPP Starmer tried to send head of News UK Rebekah Brooks to prison for phone hacking 10 years ago

Ten years ago Keir Starmer attempted to send Rebekah Brooks to prison for phone hacking.

Now Starmer could cause another headache for the boss of Rupert Murdoch’s British media empire. She has to work out how her Tory-backing newspapers – which include the Sun and the Times – handle the growing popularity of the man who is favourite to become the next prime minister.

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Hospital patient challenges Rishi Sunak over nurses’ pay

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Catherine Poole tells prime minister to pay staff more, raising a finger and saying: ‘You need to try harder’

Rishi Sunak got a tase of how the “difficult decisions” he has said will guide spending cuts may go down with the public, when he was challenged by a hospital patient about nurses’ pay.

During a tour of Croydon University Hospital in south London, Sunak met NHS workers and posed for smiling selfies with them, but was confronted by 77-year old Catherine Poole.

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