British prime minister says force would need protections such as air cover that only US can provide
Keir Starmer has urged Donald Trump to provide a US “backstop” to a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine, saying it is the only way to deter Russia from attacking the country again.
The UK prime minister’s appeal to Trump came after an emergency summit in Paris that heard widespread calls by European leaders for a large boost in defence spending.
Continue reading...Spokesperson says Keir Starmer’s previously stated view that military action needs consent of MPs has not changed
Keir Starmer has not ruled out holding a parliamentary vote on committing UK troops to a peacekeeping role in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, after calls from some within Labour and the Lib Dems.
Downing Street hinted that a US-backed guarantee would be needed in order for the UK to send ground troops, saying it was an “essential” part of any ceasefire deal with Russia.
Continue reading...Emmanuel Macron, Kier Starmer and others discuss Trump, Russia and Ukraine at hastily arranged conference
Emmanuel Macron: Bienvenu á Paris.
Keir Starmer: Bonjour, Monsieur le President. Thank you for organising this “once-in-a-generation” summit at such short notice.
Continue reading...Conservative leader calls ‘pronouns, diversity policies and climate activism’ a ‘poison’ in speech at rightwing event
Kemi Badenoch has said “our country and all of western civilisation will be lost” if efforts to renew the Conservative party and drive forward rightwing ideas globally fail.
Likening her own leadership to Donald Trump’s second term, she used a gathering of fellow conservatives to attack Keir Starmer for taking the knee in a nod to Black Lives Matter and described “pronouns, diversity policies and climate activism” as a “poison”.
Continue reading...End of ‘de minimis’ policy for Chinese goods also expected to hit bigger fashion retailers such as Asos and Boohoo
Many UK-based independent sellers on marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon could suffer a significant hit to US sales from planned changes to import rules under Donald Trump, with experts comparing the impact to a second Brexit.
The new rules, which mean all parcels originating or made in China and being sold into the US must pay import duty – of as much as 15% on fashion items – and an additional 10% tariff, are also expected to impact bigger online clothing retailers such as Asos and Boohoo.
Continue reading...Plan for ‘reasonable’ 2.8% rises may prove insufficient, forcing chancellor to find billions in extra funding
Rachel Reeves has been warned public sector unions will demand higher pay increases to compensate for accelerating inflation, heaping pressure on the chancellor to find billions of pounds in extra funding.
The government made recommendations in December for a 2.8% pay rise for teachers, NHS staff and other public sector workers for the financial year beginning in April, saying it was a “reasonable amount” given forecasts for the economy.
Continue reading...Event co-founded by Jordan Peterson will bring together global rightwing figures including senior US Republicans
Influential rightwingers from around the world are to gather in London from Monday at a major conference to network and build connections with senior US Republicans linked to the Trump administration.
The UK opposition leader, the Conservatives’ Kemi Badenoch, and Nigel Farage of the Reform UK party, her hard-right anti-immigration rival, will compete to present themselves as the torchbearer of British conservatism.
Continue reading...Resolution Foundation report says failure to reform has ‘slowly recreated the issues that undid the poll tax’
Britain’s poorest households are paying an increasing share of their income on council tax, according to new analysis that likened it to the poll tax that contributed to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher.
The poorest fifth of households paid 4.8% of their income on council tax in England, Wales and Scotland and on domestic rates in Northern Ireland in the 2020-21 financial year, up from 2.9% in 2002-3, according to research by the Resolution Foundation.
Continue reading...Impending tax rises from autumn budget fuel collapse in sentiment and rising redundancy intentions, surveys show
UK employers are preparing for the biggest redundancy round in a decade amid collapsing business confidence as firms brace for tax increases from April that Rachel Reeves announced in her autumn budget.
In a fresh blow for the chancellor, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), which represents human resources professionals, said a survey of 2,000 employers showed redundancy intentions at their highest level in 10 years, barring the Covid pandemic.
Continue reading...About 64% of people had difficulties with health service last year relating to communication about care
Patients routinely have to chase up test results, receive appointment letters after their appointments and do not know when their treatment will occur because the NHS is so “dysfunctional”.
That is the conclusion of research by two major patients’ organisations and the King’s Fund, which lays bare a host of problems with the way the health service interacts with it users.
32% had to chase up the results of a test, scan or X-ray.
32% had not been told how long they would have to wait for their care or treatment.
23% were unaware of who to contact while they waited.
20% received an invitation to an appointment after the date had passed.
Continue reading...Husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe expresses concern for Craig and Lindsay Foreman who were held in January
The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has called on ministers to act “more promptly” than they did to help free his wife, after Iran detained a British couple on a motorcycle trip.
Richard Ratcliffe, whose wife was freed in 2022 after five years in a Tehran prison, expressed fears that the couple would now face the “brutal theatre” of court process to “get the government’s attention”.
Continue reading...Head of Unison Christina McAnea is one of 148 signatories of letter warning rules will ‘breed division and mistrust’
Keir Starmer’s most generous union backer has joined faith leaders to warn Yvette Cooper that new rules refusing citizenship to refugees who arrive in small boats will “breed division and distrust” and could fuel attacks on migrant hotels.
Christina McAnea, the general secretary of Unison, and nine Church of England bishops are among 148 signatories of a letter saying the home secretary’s plan to bar naturalisation for anyone who has made a dangerous journey will label tens of thousands of people “second-class citizens”.
Continue reading...Jonathan Reynolds says Britain has not given up on persuading the US to allow Ukraine to join Nato
The UK hopes to act as a bridge between Europe and Donald Trump’s US, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has said before what could be a crucial week of diplomacy in deciding Ukraine’s future.
With Keir Starmer expected to travel to Paris on Monday for an emergency summit of European leaders, in advance of a possible trip to Washington the following week, Reynolds said the UK had still not given up on persuading the US to allow Ukraine to join Nato.
Continue reading...Higher tuition costs have already been ‘wiped out’ by government tax hikes, critics claim
A fall in international students applying for visas risks prolonging the existential threat facing some of England’s universities, sources in higher education say, amid warnings that an increase in tuition fees has already been “wiped out” by the government’s tax rises.
Despite the decision by ministers to increase fees for UK students this year to £9,535 – the first rise in eight years – figures across the universities sector said the financial situation remained dire, with further course closures and redundancies being widely considered.
Continue reading...Allies want to give Conservative leader more time, but many insist her approach to Keir Starmer needs total overhaul
Kemi Badenoch is being urged to overhaul her approach to prime minister’s questions and bring in more experienced advisers to prepare for the weekly political joust, amid criticisms of her approach to taking on Keir Starmer.
Some MPs are complaining that their fledgling leader is raising the wrong topics and picking unconvincing lines of attack against the prime minister at PMQs, which is her most prominent opportunity to make the political weather. Others have been concerned about the level of support for her from colleagues during the exchanges.
Continue reading...As her £9.9bn of headroom evaporates, chancellor will have to raise taxes, cut spending or break ‘iron-clad’ fiscal rules
When Rachel Reeves stood up in the House of Commons on budget day on 30 October as this country’s first woman chancellor, she was brimming with pride: “To girls and young women everywhere, I say: Let there be no ceiling on your ambition, your hopes and your dreams.”
Four months on, however, there are few women or men, young or old, at Westminster, who would envy Reeves’s lot in charge of the country’s finances. The bind she finds herself in is more the stuff of a chancellor’s nightmares than dreams.
Continue reading...US president’s announcement prompts government to publish green paper weeks ahead of schedule
The government has rushed forward plans for a £2.5bn investment in the UK steel industry after Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminium into the US.
The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, will publish a green paper entitled Plan for Steel on Sunday – several weeks before schedule – in a sign of how Trump’s tariffs are sending shock waves through a UK government desperate to kickstart economic growth.
Continue reading...With a new HQ and digital-savvy staff, Reform UK is trying to tighten its operation – but there are tensions over fringe views and trouble brewing at the grassroots
Nigel Farage seems to be everywhere again: striding into rallies to the beat of Eminem, popping up at Maga parties in Washington, hosting a champagne-soaked fundraiser in Mayfair and grinning on the ITV breakfast sofa taunted by a Chinese dragon.
Since July, Reform UK has soared in the polls, threatening the Conservatives and Labour and leaving many backers daring to dream that one day Farage could enter government.
Continue reading...The PM and president discussed Starmer’s forthcoming visit to the US, No 10 said
Friday is the day that political parties tend to get excited about local byelection results, or neglect to mention the election happened at all if it didn’t go their way.
Across the evening and into today the Britain Elects social media account has recorded a hold for the Liberal Democrats in Manor (Stevenage), a hold for Labour in Burnt Oak (Barnet), a gain for Reform UK from Labour in Trevethin and Penygarn (Torfaen) and a gain for the Green Party of England and Wales in Warwick All Saints and Woodloes (Warwick).
Thames Water, which is on the verge of financial collapse, had wanted to raise bills by 59% over the next five years. It said on Friday morning its board had concluded that Ofwat’s final determination, of a 35% increase, would not allow the investment and improvement needed to improve its services.
Liberal Democrat MP Charlie Maynard argued that Thames Water should not be allowed to raise bills further because a 35% increase over five years was “more than enough,” adding “So much of the money is being spent on sky-high interest rates and advisory fees. Everyone’s focus now should be putting the company into special administration so its balance sheet can be reset and our bills spent on actually fixing the sewage network.”
Continue reading...Prime minister uses call with Ukraine president to restate UK support in face of Trump interventions
• Europe live – latest updates
Ukraine remains on “an irreversible path” towards Nato membership, Keir Starmer has told Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a phone call that underlined the divide between Europe and the US over the future of the country.
According to a Downing Street readout of the call with the Ukrainian president, Starmer stressed “the UK’s concrete support for Ukraine, for as long as it’s needed”.
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