Britain slashes humanitarian aid by 51% despite global food crisis

Campaigners say ministers must change course as millions face famine in Africa and the Ukraine war threatens to disrupt global food supplies

Ministers have been accused of choosing the “worst moment in history” to slash the foreign aid budget, as provisional figures showed that UK overseas humanitarian funding was cut by more than half last year.

MPs and charity campaigners say the aid budget urgently needs to be increased to cope with the Ukraine conflict and the risk of famine in Africa. Up to 23 million people face acute hunger in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia due to drought.

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Grenfell families ‘enraged’ by plan to keep ‘stay put’ policy

Grenfell United criticises Home Office papers outlining reason for retaining policy against inquiry recommendations

Bereaved relatives of the Grenfell Tower blaze have said they are “enraged” by government plans to keep the controversial “stay put” policy instead of adopting an inquiry recommendation.

Grenfell United has criticised new Home Office papers which outline its reasons for retaining the policy – meaning that residents of most buildings should wait for rescue services rather than leaving in the event of a fire.

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Plans to keep passengers moving and shelves stocked as rail strike looms

With 40,000 RMT members voting, union warns of ‘potentially biggest rail strike in modern history’

Contingency plans are being drawn up to try to keep passenger and freight trains running and prevent empty supermarket shelves after unions warned of “potentially the biggest rail strike in modern history”.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) is balloting 40,000 members on the industrial action, which network sources have reportedly said would create “serious challenges” in keeping goods moving and supermarket shelves stocked.

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Iain Duncan Smith calls for benefits to rise in line with inflation

Tory MP says immediate increase in universal credit would provide ‘shield’ against cost of living crisis

The former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has called for benefits to be immediately brought in line with inflation to provide a “shield” against the sting of mounting living costs.

He said rebates and discretionary funds represented “a step in the wrong direction for tackling poverty”, arguing it would be better to uplift universal credit (UC) as it “links benefits to work”.

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Cambridge University astrophysicist loses space project role amid Brexit row

Nicholas Walton gives up leadership of €2.8m pan-European research after dispute over Northern Ireland protocol

A Cambridge University astrophysicist studying the Milky Way and hoping to play a major part in the European Space Agency’s (Esa) next big project has been forced to hand over his coordinating role on the scheme after the row over Northern Ireland’s Brexit arrangements put science in the firing line.

Nicholas Walton, a research fellow at the Institute of Astronomy, reluctantly passed his leadership role in the €2.8m pan-European Marie Curie Network research project to a colleague in the Netherlands on Friday.

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UK and allies discuss arming Moldova with ‘Nato standard’ weapons

Foreign secretary Liz Truss wants to protect the country south-west of Ukraine from Russia

Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, has disclosed that the UK has begun discussions with its international allies about sending modern weaponry to Moldova to protect it from Russia.

She said that she wants to see the country, which is to the south-west of Ukraine, “equipped to Nato standard.”

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Boris Johnson among dozens warned they face criticism in Sue Gray’s report

PM notified before publication next week, as an ex-civil service chief says ‘real issue’ is the No 10 leadership

Boris Johnson is among dozens of No 10 officials warned by Sue Gray they are facing criticism in her Partygate report next week, as a former civil service chief said the “real issue” was the leadership of the prime minister and his cabinet secretary, Simon Case.

Johnson is one of 20 to 30 current and former staffers who have been notified by letter that accounts of their conduct will feature in her final report on the lockdown-busting parties. This is now likely to be published next week after Scotland Yard handed out 126 fixed-penalty notices to people from No 10, including one for Johnson but many for more junior staff.

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Junior staff could have risked career by not attending No 10 parties, lawyer says

Refusing a boss’s request may harm relationship and cause employee to take legal action, according to expert

Junior civil servants who did not want to attend lockdown-breaching parties held at 10 Downing Street risked being forced to take legal action and put their careers in jeopardy, a senior employment lawyer has said.

The law expects people to stand up for themselves, experts have said, with employees largely expected to comply with their bosses. Whistleblowing legislation is rarely used because people are worried about repercussions.

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Unacceptable for one party to block Stormont, says Irish PM

Micheál Martin visits Belfast to try to break deadlock over DUP’s opposition to Brexit protocol

Ireland’s taoiseach has said it is unacceptable for one party in Northern Ireland to block others from taking power, as he visited Belfast to try to break the deadlock over the Brexit protocol and power-sharing at Stormont.

After meetings with party leaders, Micheál Martin said the Northern Ireland assembly and executive should be formed while negotiations continued between the UK government and the EU over the protocol. “Our view is there should be parallel discussions,” he said as he urged the DUP to abandon its decision not to return to power-sharing until “decisive action” was taken over reforms to Northern Ireland’s Brexit arrangements.

Earlier he said it was “unheard of in a democratic world” that a parliament could not convene after an election. “We can’t have a situation where one political party determines that the other political parties can’t convene in a parliament,” he said.

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US delegation to fly to UK over Northern Ireland tensions

Nine-strong delegation led by close Biden ally will also visit Brussels and Dublin in significant intervention on division over Brexit protocol

One of Joe Biden’s closest allies is due to arrive in London on Saturday as part of an influential US congressional delegation seeking to calm tensions over Northern Ireland.

The nine-strong delegation includes Democratic and Republican delegates from the House of Representatives and Senate including members of the powerful ways and means committee chaired by Richard Neal, who will lead the group.

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Pelosi warns changes to Northern Ireland protocol could affect US trade deal with Britain

Bluntly worded intervention comes as tensions rise over plans by Liz Truss to nullify parts of the protocol

The US House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has warned that unilateral UK legislation affecting the Northern Ireland protocol could endanger British prospects for a free trade deal with the US.

Pelosi’s bluntly worded intervention came two days after the UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, confirmed that the government was planning to table legislation that would nullify parts of the protocol by exempting some goods moving between Great Britain and Ireland from EU customs checks.

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Civil servants and No 10 advisers furious over single fine for Boris Johnson

PM received only one of 126 fixed-penalty notices relating to law-breaking parties, prompting claims Met police bungled inquiry

Civil servants and special advisers have reacted with fury and disbelief after Scotland Yard confirmed Boris Johnson got only one of 126 fines levied for law-breaking parties at the heart of Downing Street and Whitehall.

The Metropolitan police came under intense pressure to explain how it reached its conclusions after Downing Street said officers confirmed no further action would be taken against the prime minister despite him attending gatherings for which others were fined.

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Partygate live: Sue Gray report due next week after police end investigation with 126 fines

Met police close inquiry with Downing Street yet to confirm whether Boris Johnson has received new fine

Dorries says Channel 4 is dependent on one stream of revenue - advertising.

But this revenue is going down, she says. And she says advertisers have more choice.

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Police conclude Partygate investigation into Downing Street gatherings

Met has issued 126 fixed-penalty notices, but it is unclear if Boris Johnson has had more than one

The Metropolitan police have completed their investigation into lockdown-breaching parties in Downing Street and Whitehall, and issued a total of 126 fixed-penalty notices, the force has announced.

Thus far Boris Johnson has received one fine. It is not immediately clear if any of the last tranche of fines involve any more for the prime minister.

20 May 2020, when “bring your own booze” drinks were held in the Downing Street garden.

18 June 2020, when a party was held to mark the departure of a No 10 private secretary.

19 June, the date of Johnson’s birthday party, for which he was fined.

13 November 2020, when a leaving do was held for adviser Lee Cain as well as a party in the No 10 flat.

17 December 2020 when several parties were held, including one to mark the departure of Covid taskforce boss Kate Josephs.

18 December, the date of the “cheese and wine” gathering which led to the resignation of Allegra Stratton.

14 January 2021, when gatherings were held to mark the departure of two private secretaries, as revealed by Sue Gray.

16 April, the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral, when two parties were held, one of which culminated in Wilfred Johnson’s swing being broken.

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Helping cash-strapped Britons won’t add to inflation, says CBI

Chief of business association calls for stimulus that aids ‘hardest hit’ with rising food and fuel bills

Tackling rising food and fuel bills will not add to inflation and people who are “the hardest hit” need help now, the head of the UK’s biggest business association has warned.

Official figures published on Wednesday revealed UK inflation soared to 9% in April – its highest level for more than 40 years – as the rising cost of gas and electricity pushed household energy bills to record levels.

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Boris Johnson ‘choosing to let people struggle’ with cost of living says Keir Starmer – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. You can find our latest cost of living stories below:

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, has warned that inflation will experience a further “bump” before prices are likely to stabilise.

In a Q&A after delivering a speech on green trade at Bloomberg’s HQ in London, she said countries around the world were facing a “a global battle against inflation”. She went on:

This is something we have to tackle across the board.

And the worry we always have is that inflation tends to have two bumps to it.

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‘I thought the UK was a good country’: Sudan massacre refugee faces removal to Rwanda

Mohammed is among first asylum seekers to face removal under Home Office’s controversial scheme

It took Mohammed more than three years and a journey of more than 5,000 miles to reach the UK after fleeing a massacre in his village in Sudan.

Now, just over a week after arriving by kayak across the Channel, he is among the first tranche of asylum seekers facing forced removal to Rwanda, on the continent where his journey began.

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UK must accept border on Irish Sea is inevitable, says ex-WTO chief

Pascal Lamy says row is solvable if PM stops using emotional Brexit politics to solve ‘technical problem’

Boris Johnson’s row with the EU over Northern Ireland’s Brexit arrangements is “absolutely solvable” but only if the UK accepts that a border is inevitable, the former head of the World Trade Organization has said.

But Pascal Lamy said the prime minister could only achieve a breakthrough if he stopped mixing “oil and vinegar” and throwing emotional Brexit politics on to what he said was essentially a technical problem.

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UK deportation flight to Jamaica takes off with seven onboard

Home Office initially had 100 people on list of Jamaican nationals to be removed, say reports

A Home Office deportation flight to Jamaica took off in the early hours of Wednesday morning with seven people onboard.

Some media reports said the Home Office initially had 100 people on the list of Jamaican nationals that officials hoped to remove.

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Numbers of nurses and midwives leaving NHS highest for four years

More nurses leave NHS than at any time since Covid struck, many reporting stress as their main reason

More than 27,000 nurses and midwives quit the NHS last year, with many blaming job pressures, the Covid pandemic and poor patient care for their decision.

The rise in staff leaving their posts across the UK – the first in four years – has prompted concern that frontline workers are under too much strain, especially with the NHS-wide shortage of nurses.

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