UK politics

UK politics

The minutes, seen by journalists before they were pulled, appear unremarkable and include a note that a change in rules could mean costs for the then Prince Andrew as a UK trade envoy would be funded by the Royal Travel Office rather than the former Department of Trade and Industry adding 90,000 to its budget. Visits discussed were to China, Russia, south-east Asia and Spain.

A senior aide wrote to the prime minster in July 2005 to tell him that the attorney general had met army prosecutors that afternoon to discuss the case against soldiers alleged to have beaten Baha Mousa to death. It was likely the case would proceed to a court martial, wrote Antony Phillipson, the then prime minister's private secretary for foreign affairs, adding: Although if the AG felt that the case were better dealt with in a civil court he could direct accordingly. It must not!

We have a history of looking after senior party members on both sides but I fully support this latest initiative. I feel the lives of Labour MPs should be hindered and diminished like they are doing to ours. I don't think they are all evil. Most are just naive and ideologically stupid. If the entire country refuses to do business with them perhaps they will get the message.

Dodds is one of Starmer's oldest parliamentary allies. He made her the shadow chancellor when he was elected as Labour leader in April 2020, but replaced her with Rachel Reeves in May 2021 during a reshuffle after a crushing by-election defeat in Hartlepool. In government Dodds served as development and equalities minister, but resigned in February over plans to cut international aid to fund an increase in defence spending. She has been the MP for Oxford East since 2017.

In the column, OFI stated that it - alongside SNP national equalities convener Sadie Matthews - moved a resolution at the SNP's policy-making body, the National Council, earlier this month rejecting the Equality and Human Rights Commission's controversial proposals on access single-sex spaces made following the UK Supreme Court ruling in April, which decided the definition of 'sex' for the purposes of the 2010 Equality Act refers to "biological sex" only.

A £5 billion tax raid on salary sacrifice pension schemes announced in Rachel Reeves's Budget has emerged as the single most damaging policy for business confidence, according to new research from the Confederation of British Industry. Almost three-quarters (73%) of companies surveyed by the CBI said the move to levy national insurance contributions on pension salary sacrifice above a new cap was the most harmful measure in the Budget, warning it risks deterring workers from saving for retirement and disproportionately hitting middle earners.

Khan said during his 2021 mayoral election campaign that he would order Transport for London (TfL) to extend a ban on junk food ads to cover online casinos and bookmakers as well, citing the devastating impact of addiction. Yet the mayor's office has yet to make good on the manifesto promise, blaming a lack of guidance from central government on the links between gambling adverts and harm. In the meantime, the number of gambling ads has increased, including a campaign for the online casino 888 that had to be withdrawn amid an outcry about its flippant tone.

Thousands of taxpayers chose to spend part of their Christmas break tackling their tax affairs, with more than 4,600 people filing their Self Assessment returns on Christmas Day alone, new figures show. Data released by HM Revenue and Customs reveals that 37,435 people submitted their returns between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, suggesting that for a growing number of taxpayers, festive filing is becoming a seasonal habit.

Elba, known for his roles in The Wire and Luther, was knighted for services to young people in recognition of his charity work at the Elba Hope Foundation, which supports community empowerment, education, youth advocacy and sustainable development. He said: I hope we can do more to draw attention to the importance of sustained, practical support for young people and to the responsibility we all share to help them find an alternative to violence.

A west London council is poised to hit second-home owners with a major tax hike as it looks for new ways to plug growing budget gaps. This will effectively double the bill for owners who keep properties empty. For Band D homes, owners must pay 1,952.38 a year in council tax. Around 750 second homes are registered in Hillingdon and are likely to be affected by the changes unless they have a valid exemption.

The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) and other groups representing the secretive organisation in England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands have pushed back against plans, announced earlier this month, to make Freemasonry membership a declarable association. It will mean officers and staff are required to declare membership past or present of any organisation that is hierarchical, has confidential membership and requires members to support and protect each other.

[It's] sad and pointless. That's just riding on the current wave of leftism, where you don't have to think anymore. You just react with the herd. Moo!

For starters Alex I was pretty nervous, and I had a hellish journey fighting my way through Black Friday weekend crowds. But we got on straight away, and professionally we had a lot of crossover. Mike I found him remarkably thoughtful, grounded and likable. Alex We shared tortilla chips with guacamole to start, then I had soft-shell crab tacos with five different types of salsas. It was really delicious.

I think it [the war] was a waste of time, because the benefits we got from it, the wartime camaraderie and everyone, almost everybody, mucked in [with] whatever they could do. Whatever [way] they could help somebody else they did. That wasn't just in the army. You don't get that now, no.

People are dying in unsafe accommodation and communities are being irreversibly damaged due to delays to a new law to clamp down on unregulated supported housing in England. It has been more than two years since the Supported Housing Act, a private member's bill brought by the Conservative MP Bob Blackman, that applies to England and Wales, was given royal assent but it has yet to be implemented due to delays in creating the regulations.

Sir Keir Starmer is preparing to push Britain into significantly stricter net zero commitments as part of negotiations to rejoin the EU's internal electricity market, a move that has triggered accusations from critics that the government is surrendering control over UK energy policy.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

According to her website, Ms Sood came to Leicester from India, where she had been studying for a PhD, in 1970, and completed her studies before becoming a primary school teacher for about 20 years. She became the city's first female Hindu councillor in October 1996, after winning a by-election triggered by her husband Paul's death earlier that year. Twelve years later, in May 2008, she became the UK's and Leicester's first Asian female lord mayor, and said at the time: "This is great news for a great city, especially as a woman who came here to make it her home."

X Screenshot Britain's King Charles III enraged British conservatives and some MAGA adherents with his annual Christmas message, where he pleaded for compassion and reconciliation, and proclaimed that diversity is one of the UK's greatest strengths. Charles spoke from the 500-year-old Lady Chapel within Westminster Abbey in London, saying, he longed for resilience in the face of adversity, peace through forgiveness, simply getting to know our neighbors and, by showing respect to one another, creating new friendships.

The UK public sector has an expensive technology problem, costing roughly £45 billion a year, by its own estimates. That's taxpayer money poured into patching up outdated systems, renewing old contracts, and keeping legacy software on life support.

Freedom of information requests made by the Guardian show that just 1.55% of parental leave requests made at those employers in the last five years were for shared parental leave (SPL). From 274,755 requests for parental leave across NHS England, Scotland and Wales, HMRC, the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Work and Pensions between 2020 and 2025, just 4,264 were for SPL.