UK politics

UK politics

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.

Yesterday, I stood side by side with our European and American allies and President Zelenskyy at the coalition of the willing meeting in Paris, Starmer said in introductory remarks. We made real progress on security guarantees, which are vital for securing a just and lasting peace. Along with President Macron and President Zelenskyy, we agreed a declaration of intent on the deployment of forces in the event of a peace deal. We will set out the details in a statement at the earliest opportunity.

Labour watering down its sweeping overhaul of workers' rights is expected to slash the cost of the plan for UK businesses by billions of pounds, the government's own analysis shows. According to an updated Whitehall impact assessment published on Wednesday, concessions by ministers could reduce the cost of the employment rights bill for businesses to about 1bn. An earlier version of the document had suggested the package, which includes day-one employment rights and banning zero-hours contracts, could have cost firms up to 5bn.

The admission came as it emerged that Transport for London considered further extending the new line from Thamesmead to Abbey Wood, where passengers could interchange with the Elizabeth line only to rule it out on cost-benefit grounds. And in a separate development, City Hall staff were warned that job cuts were still on the agenda, despite London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan having received 155m more than expected in new Government grants.

capitulated to Islamists

Tucked just inside the M25, Crews Hill near Enfield has been home to a cluster of horticultural businesses for decades, leading to it being nicknamed the golden mile. Many of these small, family-run businesses selling plants, fencing and paving fear they will be closed down and forced to move if the government selects Crews Hill and nearby Chase Park as one of its next generation of new towns.

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.

Good things may come to those who wait, but when it comes to repairing the Brexit settlement Britain was left with by Boris Johnson, the waiting has come at a heavy cost. Prices are higher, trade is weaker and our influence diminished. That is why Keir Starmer's promise to bring forward legislation this year to improve the UK's deal with the EU is the clearest signal yet that the era of warm words without delivery may finally be coming to an end.

Three people who are being held in prison on charges connected with the protest group Palestine Action have been on hunger strike for 45, 59 and 66 days. A fourth prisoner, Teuta Hoxha, ended her strike this week, after 58 days. She could suffer lifelong health effects. The remaining strikers, Heba Muraisi, Kamran Ahmed and Lewie Chiaramello, could pass away at any time.

The winning supplier will be asked to build an AI platform capable of so-called natural language call steering and host it in a UK-shored dedicated cloud environment. The DWP is the UK's biggest public service department, managing the State Pension and working-age and disability benefits for around 20 million citizens. Calls are currently answered by advisors within the authority's contact centers on one of the largest call-handling platforms in Europe.

Labour will switch to an incumbency first model to protect MPs at the next election rather than targeting seats, the deputy leader, Lucy Powell, has told Labour MPs. Powell said the party would support MPs to become leaders in their communities and learn how to benefit politically from changes made by the government, which MPs have so far gained little credit for. But she also told MPs in the first parliamentary Labour party (PLP) meeting of the year that they needed to stop infighting amid continued discontent with Keir Starmer's leadership.

Constance has been given a written reprimand and told to make a statement to parliament to update the official record. The row dates back to September, when the justice secretary quoted Prof Jay - who is overseeing a review of the evidence on grooming gangs in Scotland - in parliament and told MSPs that the expert did not support further grooming gang inquiries. However, Prof Jay later contacted the government to clarify that her remarks did not refer to inquiries in Scotland.

Campaigners for assisted dying will ask the House of Lords to sit late or start early in order to pass the legislation in time. Concern is growing among supporters of the bill that it won't pass all its parliamentary hurdles in the allotted days. A motion in the Lords asks peers to agree that "further time should be provided for consideration of the bill".

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.

There was something happening that I couldn't quite recognise. They're not from school. They don't look like a family group. Emma Warren, a journalist and author of Up the Youth Club: Illuminating a Hidden History, explains to Helen Pidd how she realised that the man she was observing was a youth worker. Bringing people in, dropping them out. I was watching someone extremely skilful.

The funding will establish a Government Cyber Unit, led by the UK's CISO and overseen by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), to improve risk identification, incident response, and recovery capabilities. The unit will also create a dedicated Government Cyber Profession, elevating cybersecurity from its current placement under the broader Government Security Profession.

Two years ago Paul Patterson said Fujitsu had a moral obligation to pay financial redress to the victims of Horizon admitting it had known the accounting IT system was faulty since the 1990s with the government estimating the final cost to taxpayers of payouts to be 1.8bn. On Tuesday, Patterson was taken to task by the Commons business and trade committee for Fujitsu's continued refusal to reveal a compensation figure or make a provision for it in the publicly listed Japanese company's financial accounts.

The idea that executives, as a class, are individually contributing over 100 times more in value than the workers they rely on is simply not credible.

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.

We promised to restore order and control to our borders, which means taking on the people smuggling networks behind this deadly trade. That is exactly why we are implementing robust new laws with powerful offences to intercept, disrupt and dismantle these vile gangs faster than ever before and cut off their supply chains.

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. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

A couple of the more disruptive boys in the class put red laces in their Dr Martens, because someone had told them that was how you showed your support for the National Front. Jew was an everyday insult and the N-word was in regular circulation. There were no more than four or five non-white kids in the whole school: I can recall one Asian girl finding her art folder had been covered in racist abuse,

Subjecting desperate and traumatised men, women and children to invasive searches including examinations of their clothing and even inside their mouths immediately after they have survived a terrifying Channel crossing is profoundly inhumane. Applying these powers indiscriminately to everyone arriving by small boat risks treating all refugees as a security threat, regardless of evidence, and shows a shocking disregard for the fundamental right to privacy.

It is a darkly dystopian vision of Britain's future, in which tens of thousands die in a bitter civil war in just a few years time. Yet such forecasts are no longer limited to niche corners of the internet or the X feed of Elon Musk, condemned by Downing Street for claiming that war in Britain was inevitable after the post-Southport rioting.

As I've made clear, I didn't know about those comments at the time of welcoming El Fattah to this country.

Uninsured drivers are set to face higher fines and tougher penalties under new government proposals. Fixed penalty fines (FPNs) for offenders are intended to significantly exceed average insurance premium costs, with the upfront penalty potentially doubling to 600. These plans will feature in the upcoming Road Safety Strategy, due for publication this week, as part of a wider consultation on motoring offences.

consider formally listing the FRAGC as an ACV in January and this has been published publicly on the council's forward plan

Sir Keir Starmer has backed the transition of power in Venezuela saying the UK shed no tears about the end of Nicolas Maduro's regime. His comments, which will be seen as effective support for Donald Trump, came after the US President stunned the world by announcing it had captured President Maduro and was taking over the running of the South American country.

We are repeatedly sold a painfully two-dimensional picture of the motivations of those seeking shelter in Britain. According to this picture, migrants are eager to experience the benefits of our society, but they are also out to undermine it, because they come from cultures whose values are dramatically different from our own. Think of the ongoing grooming gangs scandal: an undeniably appalling series of events, institutional failures and victim-blaming that has been