Cottrell, who served eight months for fraud, paid £15,000 for Reform party leader’s flight to US in December
Nigel Farage’s trip to Florida where he met Elon Musk was part-funded by his friend and former fraudster George Cottrell, who paid for his £15,000 flight.
The Reform leader accepted the flight for his visit in December last year, when he was pictured smiling with Musk and the Reform party treasurer, Nick Candy.
Continue reading...Announcement prompts concerns that PM is pandering to US president and warnings over consequences of aid cuts
Keir Starmer has announced that Britain will “fight for peace in Europe” with a generational increase in defence spending paid for by slashing the foreign aid budget.
The move, just two days before the prime minister is due to meet Donald Trump, raised immediate concerns that he was pandering to the US president, and fury from aid groups that say it could cost lives in countries that rely on UK support.
Continue reading...Charity calls for move after poll finds ‘crisis’ levels of reading for pleasure and rise in 8- to 18-year-olds enjoying audio
The government has been urged to include audiobooks in the new schools curriculum in England, after research showed fewer children were reading books for pleasure and more were listening to them instead.
A poll by the National Literacy Trust (NLT) found that children’s enjoyment of listening to audio and podcasts had risen compared with the previous year, overtaking their enjoyment of reading for the first time since the charity began asking about audio in 2020.
Continue reading...Warrant will not be required where tracker shows an item is present, as part of raft of measures in crime and policing bill
Police will be able to search properties without a warrant for stolen phones or other electronically geotagged items under the government’s crime and policing bill.
The measure is among dozens in the bill, which will be put before parliament on Tuesday and would mostly apply to England and Wales. It has a particular focus on lower-level offences such as theft and wider antisocial behaviour.
Continue reading...Starmer’s spokesperson says US intervention ‘could bring lasting peace’ as No 10 treads carefully before White House visit
Donald Trump has changed the global conversation around Ukraine “for the better”, Downing Street has said, as the UK imposed further sanctions on Russia in an effort to force Vladimir Putin to make concessions.
As world leaders marked the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said the US president had opened the door to talks that could bring lasting peace.
Continue reading...PM says Trump has ‘changed global conversation on Ukraine’ as he pledges more military aid and sanctions
Keir Starmer called for support for Ukraine to be boosed in three ways in his virtual speech to the conference in Kyiv.
First, military support should increase, he said.
The UK is doing that, providing £4.5bn pounds in military aid this year, more than ever before. We’re doing more than ever to train Ukrainian troops helping Ukraine to mobilise even further. And we are proud to have taken on the leadership of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.
So today, we’re announcing the UK’s largest packet of sanctions since the early days of the war, going after Russia’s shadow fleet and going after companies in China and elsewhere who are sending military component.
Later day, I will be discussing further steps with the G7. But I am clear that the G7 should be ready to take on more risk, including the oil price cap, sanctioning Russia’s oil giants and going off the banks that are enabling the evasion of sanctions.
President Trump has changed the global conversation over the last few weeks, and it has created an opportunity.
Now we must get the fundamentals right if we want peace to endure. Ukraine must have a seat at the table, and any settlement must be based on a sovereign Ukraine backed up with strong security guarantees.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Government reluctant to take action that could weaken UK’s attractiveness to AI firms, says Labour source
Ministers have delayed plans to regulate artificial intelligence as the UK government seeks to align itself with Donald Trump’s administration on the technology, the Guardian has learned.
A long-awaited AI bill, which ministers had originally intended to publish before Christmas, is not expected to appear in parliament before the summer, according to three Labour sources briefed on the plans.
Ministers had intended to publish a short bill within months of entering office that would have required companies to hand over large AI models such as ChatGPT for testing by the UK’s AI Security Institute.
The bill was intended to be the government’s answer to concerns that AI models could become so advanced that they pose a risk to humanity, and were different from separate proposals to clarify how AI companies can use copyrighted material.
Trump’s election has led to a rethink, however. A senior Labour source said the bill was “properly in the background” and that there were still “no hard proposals in terms of what the legislation looks like”. “They said let’s try and get it done before Christmas – now it’s summer,” the source added.
Another Labour source briefed on the legislation said an iteration of the bill had been prepared months ago but was now up in the air because of Trump, with ministers reluctant to take action that could weaken the UK’s attractiveness to AI companies.
Trump has torpedoed plans by his predecessor Joe Biden for regulating AI and revoked an executive order on making the technology safe and trustworthy. The future of the US AI Safety Institute, founded by Biden, is uncertain after its director resigned this month. At an AI summit hosted in Paris, JD Vance, the US vice-president, railed against Europe’s planned regulation of the technology.
The UK government chose to side with the US by refusing to sign the Paris declaration endorsed by 66 other countries at the summit. Peter Mandelson, the UK’s ambassador to Washington, has reportedly drafted proposals to make the UK the main hub for US AI investment.
Exclusive: Top officials and climate policy experts believe delays in cutting emissions make it improbable 2045 target will be met
Scotland is likely to miss its legally binding climate target by up to 20m tonnes, according to official data seen by the Guardian.
The Scottish government set itself the world-leading target of reaching net zero – the point where any excess carbon emissions are soaked up by trees, peat or carbon capture – by 2045.
Continue reading...UK food producers plan more protests over inheritance tax changes ahead of this week’s NFU conference in London
The suits and black cabs which typically dot the streets around Westminster have been frequently replaced by the wellies, tweed jackets and tractors of aggrieved farmers of late. The next protest in London by the nation’s food producers is expected on Tuesday morning, ahead of the annual get-together of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).
Farmers have regularly swapped their fields for the city since October, when changes to inheritance tax (IHT) for agricultural businesses were announced by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, angrily protesting and waving banners.
Continue reading...Bridget Phillipson calls 2.5% target ‘ambitious’ days before PM meets with Donald Trump in Washington
Keir Starmer is unlikely to set out a plan this week for when the UK will increase its defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, a cabinet minister has indicated.
The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said the target was ambitious, despite Labour previously claiming it would set out a path to meeting the spending goal after the strategic defence review in the spring.
Continue reading...Official sent email to charity that suggested Home Office had data on ‘hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting Britons’
The Home Office has been accused of collecting data on “hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting British citizens” while conducting financial checks on migrants.
A report by a private contractor for a routine immigration application was mistakenly sent to a charity by a government official, and contained information on more than 260 people including their names, dates of birth and electoral roll data.
Continue reading...The UK leader has been advised to choose his words carefully at this week’s crucial White House meeting
• Keir Starmer lays down Ukraine peace demand ahead of Trump talks
When Keir Starmer is advised on how to handle his crucial meeting with Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday, he will be told by advisers from Downing Street and the Foreign Office to be very clear on his main points and, above all, to be brief.
“Trump gets bored very easily,” said one well-placed Whitehall source with knowledge of the president’s attention span. “When he loses interest and thinks someone is being boring, he just tunes out. He doesn’t like [the French president, Emmanuel] Macron partly because Macron talks too much and tries to lecture him.”
Continue reading...Five-year-old platform intended to make drivers’ lives easier will only be supported until the end of March
It was hailed as “the future of UK parking”, intended to remove one of the bugbears of modern life: the need to sign up to a plethora of different apps in order to park your car.
But a big question mark now hangs over the future of the National Parking Platform (NPP), a government-funded scheme designed to make drivers’ lives easier by letting them use one app of their choice to pay for all their parking.
Continue reading...In speech at Arc conference, podcaster argues ‘identity politics and multiculturalism … are two failed experiments’
Konstantin Kisin has until this week been best known as a libertarian, pro-free speech independent podcaster, and for a viral appearance at the Oxford Union arguing that “woke culture has gone too far”.
His profile has suddenly risen, however, after hosting the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, on his podcast, and arguing in an episode with Fraser Nelson, the former editor of the Spectator, that Rishi Sunak was not English owing to his “brown Hindu” background – triggering criticism on social media.
Continue reading...UK prime minister aiming to cool escalating transatlantic row over war in Ukraine
Keir Starmer will not risk riling Donald Trump by challenging him over his attack on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when the pair finally meet next week, as the prime minister seeks to cool an escalating transatlantic row.
Starmer will fly to the US in the coming days for what could be a defining moment for his leadership, as Europe and the US trade accusations and insults about the origins of the war in Ukraine and the best way to end it.
Continue reading...MP was sacked as a minister and suspended from Labour party after messages were revealed
Parliament’s standards watchdog has launched an investigation into Andrew Gwynne, who was sacked as a minister over offensive comments made on a WhatsApp group.
The MP was also suspended from the Labour party after messages were revealed in which he said he hoped a pensioner who did not support him would die before the next set of elections.
Continue reading...Solicitors Regulation Authority says it has further information about claims business secretary misrepresented his career
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has said it will reinvestigate the business secretary Jonathan Reynolds over accusations he misrepresented his legal career.
A spokesperson for the SRA said: “We looked at that issue at the time we became aware of it and contacted Mr Reynolds about the profiles.
Continue reading...Partnership comes as London station looks at ways to almost triple passenger numbers
St Pancras railway station in London and the Channel tunnel operator have agreed to work together to open up more trains from Britain to France, and routes to Germany and Switzerland.
The agreement is the latest sign of growing momentum for new passenger rail links from England across the Channel, after Great Britain’s only international station announced plans to triple the number of people who can travel through every hour.
Continue reading...Jess Phillips says ‘Raneem’s law’ scheme will support ‘force-wide cultural change’ as initial phase is rolled out
Domestic abuse specialists embedded in control rooms receiving 999 emergency calls will help “create force-wide cultural change”, said Jess Phillips as the first phase of “Raneem’s law” was rolled out across England.
The new law is named in memory of Raneem Oudeh, who was killed alongside her mother, Khaola Saleem, in Solihull by Oudeh’s ex-husband, whom she had reported to the police at least seven times, as well as making four 999 calls on the night she was murdered.
Continue reading...Young Afghan refugee brings case after move to prevent those who arrived on ‘dangerous journey’ from citizenship
Plans to prevent refugees who arrive in the UK on a small boat, lorry or via other “irregular” means from becoming a British citizen are facing their first legal challenge.
The challenge is being brought by a 21-year-old Afghan refugee who arrived in the UK aged 14, after fleeing the Taliban and being smuggled to Britain in the back of a lorry. He was granted refugee status and after five years was granted indefinite leave to remain. He was due to apply for British citizenship on 1 March.
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