Category Archives: Politics

Bank of England cuts interest rates to 4.5% and halves UK growth forecast

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Latest quarter-point reduction comes with warning households face inflation of 3.7% by autumn

The Bank of England has cut interest rates to 4.5%, as it halved its UK growth forecasts for the year and warned households would face renewed pressure from rising prices.

With the government under fire over the sluggish economy, the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) voted by a majority of seven to two to reduce its key base rate, down from 4.75%, to provide some financial relief to borrowers.

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Badenoch to push for doubling of time before foreign workers can settle in UK

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Tory leader wants Labour immigration bill to include 10-year residence before granting of indefinite leave to remain

Foreign workers will have to live in the UK for 10 years without claiming any kind of benefit before being allowed indefinite leave to remain under plans announced by the Conservatives on Wednesday.

Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, said she would push for changes to the government’s immigration bill to double the length of time it takes to qualify for settled status, as part of her party’s latest promise to crack down on immigration.

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Grenfell Tower, where 72 people died, ‘to be demolished’, families are told

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Angela Rayner meets bereaved to tell them west London block will ‘be carefully deconstructed’

Bereaved families of the Grenfell fire are understood to have been told the tower block will be demolished.

The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, who is also housing secretary, met with relatives and survivors on Wednesday evening.

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Home Office wasted nearly £100m on plans to house asylum seekers, watchdog finds

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Public Accounts Committee examined series of site purchases and found ‘troubling culture that repeatedly wastes public money’

The Home Office’s plans to house asylum seekers reveal a “dysfunctional culture of repeated mistakes and weak internal challenge” that wasted nearly £100m, parliament’s spending watchdog has concluded.

A Public Accounts Committee report said the department had a “troubling culture that repeatedly wastes public money” after examining the acquisition of the £15.4m HMP Northeye site to house new arrivals.

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‘Basic lack of decency’ driving self-harm in women’s prisons, report says

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Inspectorate points to challenges including ban on using washing machines for knickers and difficulties with family contact

Women in prison are resorting to self-harm because of “astonishing gaps” in basic services including strict time limits when contacting their children and bans from using washing machines for dirty underwear, according to a watchdog’s report.

A survey of women in prisons in England found that “the frustrations of day-to-day life” and a “lack of basic care” were driving many to hurt themselves.

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Minister promises to spend £250m to top up England’s flood defences

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Labour pledges to protect 66,500 more properties, criticising previous Tory efforts

Ministers are topping up flood defence investment in England to a “record” £2.65bn, after accusing the previous government of “putting lives at risk” by under-spending.

An extra £250m is being pledged on top of the £2.4bn previously announced, to shore up defences and protect an extra 66,500 properties from flooding over a two-year period, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.

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Labour MP to push for better maternal mental health care after friend’s suicide

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Laura Kyrke-Smith says perinatal mental health care in England is ‘postcode lottery’, with disadvantaged women more likely to miss out

A new Labour MP will speak in parliament on Wednesday of her anguish over her friend’s suicide just 10 weeks after giving birth – despite the friend having repeatedly sought help for her anxiety.

Laura Kyrke-Smith, the MP for Aylesbury, will call for more specific mental health support to be embedded in maternity services.

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Mauritian PM expects ‘speedy resolution’ with UK over Chagos Islands

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Navin Ramgoolam says Keir Starmer expressed confidence about finalising agreement within weeks

Downing Street has refused to comment on the prospect of an imminent deal over the Chagos Islands, after the Mauritian prime minister said Keir Starmer had told him he was confident about finalising an agreement in the coming weeks.

An interim deal on returning sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, which would maintain the key UK-US military base on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia, was agreed last year, building on work that began under the Conservative government.

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Nigel Farage says UK’s Brexit deal with EU can be improved but struggles to explain how – UK politics live

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Reform UK leader claims ‘industrial collaboration’ with EU will give UK ‘less flexibility’ to make deal with US

Nigel Farage has said the UK could be “friendly” with the EU but did not outline what kind of ties with the bloc his party would support, PA Media reports. PA says:

The Reform UK leader said that “industrial collaboration” with the EU will give the UK “less flexibility” to make a deal with the US.

His comments came in an interview on the Today programme after his party edged ahead of Labour to top a voting poll from YouGov for the first time.

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Ex-Tory MP reportedly joins Ukraine foreign legion in non-combat role

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Former party deputy chair Jack Lopresti said to be carrying out support work to help the country’s fight against Russia

A former Conservative MP ousted in the 2024 election has reportedly joined the International Legion in Ukraine in a non-combat role to help the fight against Russia.

Jack Lopresti, who represented the Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency in South Gloucestershire from 2010 to 2024, is carrying out support work for the unit, including foreign relations and diplomacy duties, weapons procurement and work with veterans and charities, the Independent reported.

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Keir Starmer says he wants ‘ambitious security partnership’ with EU

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PM says UK does not have to choose between Europe and US, before meeting EU leaders in Brussels

Keir Starmer has said he wants an “ambitious security partnership” with the EU, while insisting the UK does not have to choose between Europe and the US.

The prime minister was speaking before meeting EU leaders in Brussels to discuss security and defence, the first time a British leader has attended a European Council meeting since Britain left the EU five years ago.

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Ofsted’s new school report card worse than old system, say headteachers

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Unions as well as school leaders say proposed changes to replace four-grade approach in England are ‘demoralising’

Moves to overhaul the way schools are inspected in England have been criticised by headteachers and teaching unions as “demoralising” and worse than the system they are aiming to replace.

The changes by the Ofsted schools inspectorate would replace single judgments such as “outstanding” with a new report card for parents. They will be unveiled by Ofsted’s chief inspector, Martyn Oliver, on Monday alongside the launch of a public consultation.

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Ukrainian refugees face losing jobs and homes due to UK visa extension uncertainty

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Home Office process will leave some with eight-week gap when they are unable to prove right to live and work in UK

Ukrainian refugees face losing their jobs and homes due to uncertainty over the Home Office’s visa extension process which will leave some with an eight-week gap in which they are unable to prove their right to live and work in the UK.

Some have already been refused tenancy renewal because their visas are about to expire, while others have been told they will have to stop working during the extension process as landlords and employers fear hefty fines and criminal sanctions.

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DWP ‘blocked whistleblower giving evidence to carer’s allowance review’

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Staffer told by official it would be inappropriate for him to give evidence to review of scandal-hit benefit

The Department for Work and Pensions has been accused of blocking a whistleblower who repeatedly raised the alarm about carer’s allowance from giving evidence to an independent review of the scandal-hit benefit.

The DWP staffer was told by a senior official it was inappropriate to share with the review their knowledge of the inner workings of a system that has become notorious for its often cruel treatment of unpaid carers.

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Starmer calls on European leaders to put more economic pressure on Russia

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PM wants to ‘see all allies stepping up’, saying Donald Trump’s threat of sanctions has rattled Vladimir Putin

Keir Starmer has called on European leaders to put more economic pressure on Russia, saying Donald Trump’s threat of sanctions has left Vladimir Putin “rattled”.

Before a meeting in Brussels on Monday, the prime minister said it was necessary to “see all allies stepping up – particularly in Europe” when it comes to inflicting economic harm on Russia, and argued it would help bring about peace by ending the Ukraine war sooner.

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‘Reform is a challenge’: Eluned Morgan hits south Wales valleys in constant campaign mode

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The Labour first minister talks to people in Blackwood, as Reform and Plaid snap at her heels

The next Welsh parliament elections are more than a year away but the first minister, Eluned Morgan, appeared to be on the campaign trail already as she swept through the town of Blackwood in the south Wales valleys.

Within half an hour, she had spoken to dozens of people, asking what they wanted of her government, acknowledging where things needed to be improved, challenging voters who she felt were not being fair on her party.

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Labour attacks Badenoch ‘shambles’ after breach of corporate rules

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Tory leader forgot to register as controller of party’s companies until error was pointed out last week

Labour has called Kemi Badenoch a “shambles” after it emerged she forgot to register as controller of the Conservative party companies in a breach of corporate rules.

Badenoch, a former business secretary, became Conservative leader on 2 November but her predecessor Rishi Sunak was still registered as the controller of the party’s companies until the party was notified of the error last week.

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UK seeks smoother trade with EU but customs union is ‘red line’, Cooper says

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Home secretary rules out return to full union with bloc as Keir Starmer prepares for talks in Brussels this week

Keir Starmer will seek to improve customs arrangements with Europe without returning to a full union with the bloc, the home secretary has said.

As the prime minister heads to Brussels as part of his attempted reset with the EU, Yvette Cooper said it was still a red line that the UK would not be part of a customs union or single market.

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Starmer should end UK’s ‘cycle of hesitation’ with EU, says Neil Kinnock

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Former Labour leader says government should show greater willingness to work with bloc

Labour needs to end its “cycle of hesitation” over Europe and press ahead with an ambitious new relationship with the European Union, the party’s former leader Neil Kinnock has said.

Keir Starmer will head to a Brussels dinner with EU leaders this week as he attempts to negotiate a security and defence pact with the bloc. It is the first summit of its type to be attended by a British prime minister since Brexit.

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Reeves’s Heathrow third runway report was commissioned by London airport

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The chancellor is under fire after a study cited as evidence for expanding the terminal to boost the UK’s economic growth was ordered by Heathrow itself

Rachel Reeves was facing criticism on Saturday night as it was confirmed that a report she cited as evidence that a third ­runway at Heathrow would boost the UK economy was commissioned by the airport itself.

Experts and green groups also challenged Reeves’s view that advances in the production of ­sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) had been a “gamechanger” that would substantially limit the environmental damage of flying, ­saying the claims were overblown and did not stand up to scrutiny.

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