Category Archives: Politics

We failed Nazanin, admits former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt as he backs calls for inquiry – UK politics live

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Latest updates: Jeremy Hunt uses Twitter thread to say that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was failed by government

There have been reports in recent days saying that Boris Johnson wants to visit Ukraine and last night, in an interview with Andrew Marr for his new LBC show, Oliver Dowden, the Conservative party co-chair, confirmed them, saying the PM was “desperate” to visit the war zone. Dowden said:

I think the prime minister is desperate to go to Ukraine and has throughout this conflict felt a real - as the British people have done - a real emotional connection with the suffering of the Ukrainian people and a need for the West to unite in standing up to this threat from Russia which has been exposed to Ukraine.

I think it’s both to see what’s going on the ground, because it’s very different talking to somebody on the phone versus actually seeing it in practice - and, by the way, I should say that no decisions have been taken in relation to this - but then secondly, it’s actually to experience what is happening there, to see what is happening. To the people on the ground. I think that is very different to just speaking remotely.

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Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Hunt calls for inquiry into delay over Iran debt payment

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Former defence secretary says investigation could help determine why it took six years to secure release

The former British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has called for an independent investigation into why it took six years to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, saying she was right to question why her release took so long to secure.

Both Hunt and the former foreign minister Alistair Burt have said they would be willing to give evidence about the issues involved in securing her release. Burt has proposed there should be a foreign affairs select committee inquiry into why the payment of a historic debt was delayed.

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Rishi Sunak handed borrowing boost before spring statement

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Figures improve chances of fuel duty or other tax cuts but inflation drives up cost of government debt

Rishi Sunak has been handed a boost from figures showing lower government borrowing than official estimates on the eve of the spring statement.

The figures come despite a sharp rise in debt interest payments last month amid soaring inflation.

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Boris Johnson ‘desperate’ to visit Ukraine, says Tory party chair

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Oliver Dowden says PM has a ‘real emotional connection’ with the Ukrainian people but No 10 sources say a trip is unlikely

Boris Johnson is “desperate” to go to Ukraine and has a “real emotional connection” with the Ukrainian people, the Tory party chair has claimed.

It was reported at the weekend that Johnson wanted to go to Kyiv but on Monday No 10 sources indicated this is unlikely to happen.

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Treasury considers ways to ease cost of living in spring statement

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Reluctant to make big fiscal changes, chancellor Rishi Sunak considers tax adjustments and fuel duty cut

The Treasury has drawn up a range of options to help with the cost of living crisis – including a 1p cut to income tax, raising the national insurance threshold and a significant cut to fuel duty.

But government sources said Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, was still reluctant to make big fiscal changes.

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Video released showing Russian hoax call with UK defence secretary

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‘Russian state actors’ blamed for prank call made to Ben Wallace

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates

A video of defence secretary Ben Wallace being duped into speaking by phone to an impostor posing as the Ukrainian prime minister was published on Monday – hours after Downing Street said it believed Russian state actors were responsible for the hoax.

In the short clip, Wallace replies with scepticism and apparent confusion when the caller asks him questions.

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Downing Street parties: Met police begin interviewing witnesses

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News comes after questionnaires were sent to more than 100 people thought to be involved in lockdown gatherings

Boris Johnson is facing a possible police interview over lockdown breaches in Downing Street as the Metropolitan police said they intended to start questioning witnesses after sending out questionnaires to more than 100 people.

But the police statement – issued two months since inquiries began – suggests officers have not yet found breaches that meet the evidentiary threshold for fixed-penalty notices to be issued without further interviews. No FPNs have been issued so far, the force said.

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Boris Johnson did prioritise animal charity for Afghan evacuation, MPs told

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Second whistleblower suggests to committee that top civil servants lied to cover up episode

A second whistleblower has gone public to say it was “widespread knowledge” in government that Boris Johnson ordered the prioritisation of an animal charity based in Afghanistan for evacuation during the Taliban takeover last summer.

Josie Stewart, who worked in the Foreign Office for seven years, including a stint in the Kabul embassy, suggested senior civil servants in the department had lied to cover up the embarrassing episode.

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Replacements for P&O Ferries crew paid £1.80 an hour, unions say

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RMT says agency rates for seafarers are ‘gut-wrenching betrayal’ of 800 sacked British staff

Seafarers from abroad brought in to replace the 800 sacked British P&O Ferries crew are being paid as little as £1.80 an hour, unions have claimed.

The news emerged as Labour accused the government of doing “absolutely nothing” when it learned of the planned sackings, as a memorandum with the “game plan” of P&O was circulated on Wednesday evening.

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Raise benefits and pensions to help lower earners, thinktank tells Rishi Sunak

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Resolution Foundation says pegging benefits to inflation will target help to needy better than scrapping NI rise

Rishi Sunak should consider raising benefits and pensions to keep pace with inflation, research has suggested, as the chancellor faced increasing pressure to tackle the cost-of-living squeeze in this week’s spring budgetary statement.

Increasing benefits by an extra five percentage points, by 8.1% rather than the 3.1% currently planned, would give four times as much help for low-to-middle income households for every pound spent as scrapping the planned national insurance rise, the Resolution Foundation said.

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PM to chair roundtable on boosting UK’s nuclear power output

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Meeting comes as Boris Johnson prepares to publish his energy security strategy amid soaring prices and Ukraine war

Boris Johnson will chair a meeting on how to increase the UK’s nuclear power output on Monday, as he prepares to publish his energy security strategy this month amid soaring prices.

The prime minister will discuss domestic nuclear projects with leaders from the nuclear industry at a roundtable meeting at Downing Street, No 10 said.

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Labour urges Kwasi Kwarteng to launch legal action against P&O Ferries

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Letter to business secretary calls firm’s sacking of 800 workers ‘scandalous’ and a criminal offence

Labour has urged the business secretary to launch legal action against P&O Ferries over its “scandalous” decision to sack 800 workers without warning, which the party said is a criminal offence.

Shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, deputy leader Angela Rayner and shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds have written to Kwasi Kwarteng, asking if he will begin proceedings for what they called the “scandalous action” of the ferry company.

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UK considering ban on NHS procurement of Chinese goods made in Xinjiang

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Tory MPs want ministers to follow health bill amendment banning goods from regions with ‘risk of genocide’

Ministers are looking “sympathetically” at plans to stop the government buying health goods made in China’s Xinjiang province when the health and social care bill returns to the Commons later this month. The move would be a first sign that the government is willing to toughen its approach to authoritarian regimes in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.

In an interview at the weekend, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, said the west still needed to apply pressure on the Chinese government not to support the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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Rishi Sunak urged to restore UK aid spending after Ukraine invasion

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Leading thinktank finds cuts made during pandemic have harmed the UK as well as recipient countries

Rishi Sunak is being urged to boost aid UK spending in this week’s mini-budget after an in-depth study by a leading thinktank showed government cuts had the biggest negative impact on the world’s poorest countries.

The campaign group One said the aid budget was at “breaking point” and would come under renewed pressure as a result of humanitarian and refugee spending in response to the war in Ukraine.

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Ministers ‘told in advance about P&O mass sackings’

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Government accused by Labour of complicity in ferry company’s shock decision to cut 800 UK-based jobs

Government ministers knew about P&O Ferries’ plan to slash 800 jobs before staff were informed but were told by officials it would ensure the firm remained “a key player in the UK market for years to come”, it was claimed on Saturday.

A leaked memo, apparently written by a senior Whitehall official, justified the mass redundancies, stating that “without these decisions, an estimated 2,200 staff would likely lose their jobs”.

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Fury greets Johnson’s claim Ukraine fight is like Brexit

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Prime minister says vote is ‘famous recent example’ of ‘instinct of the people … to choose freedom’

Boris Johnson has caused fury among political leaders across Europe – and outrage among opponents of Brexit at home – after he compared the resistance of the Ukrainian people to Russia’s invasion to the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

In a clear attempt to rally the Tory faithful behind a Brexit theme, the prime minister said in a speech to the Conservative spring conference in Blackpool that the world faced a moment of choice “between freedom and oppression”.

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P&O resumes Liverpool-Dublin service as government reviews contracts

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Tory party co-chair voices ‘revulsion’ at ferry company’s actions after 800 staff replaced with agency workers

P&O crossings between Liverpool and Dublin resumed on Saturday afternoon, two days after the ferry company suspended services when it sacked 800 staff and brought in replacement agency workers.

Labour had called on the government to step in and halt any crossings, as ministers confirmed that all government contracts with the company were being reviewed.

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Gordon Brown and John Major back Nuremberg-style tribunal for Putin

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Former PMs join campaign calling for trial of Russian president and those around him over invasion of Ukraine

The former UK prime ministers Gordon Brown and Sir John Major are among those calling for the creation of a new international tribunal to investigate Vladimir Putin and those who helped plan his invasion of Ukraine.

They have joined a campaign – along with leading names from the worlds of law, academia and politics – aiming to put the Russian president and others on trial.

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Don’t mention the Partygate: Boris Johnson is buoyant on the world stage

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The PM seems in his element in the role of ‘war leader’, but have voters forgotten their anger?

Since his premiership nearly sank a few weeks ago, Boris Johnson has done more foreign travel and frantic diplomacy than in all his previous years as prime minister combined.

He has made phone calls almost daily to Volodymyr Zelenskiy as the war with Russia rages, and won praise from the Ukrainian president during his emotive video address to the House of Commons.

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Ukrainian refugees with UK relatives frustrated by Home Office visa delays

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People who have applied to join relatives in the UK face long waits for visa approvals

Ukrainian refugees waiting to travel to join relatives in Britain have voiced frustration at the length of time the Home Office is taking to process UK visas, despite government promises to streamline the system.

As the Homes for Ukraine scheme launched on Friday, allowing UK residents to sponsor visas for non-family members, Ukrainians who had already applied to join relatives in Britain under an earlier scheme expressed dismay at the long waits for visa approvals.

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