UK politics

UK politics

Lloyds Banking Group boss, Charlie Nunn, could be in line for a maximum annual pay packet worth more than 13m, as he becomes the latest boss to benefit from the UK's controversial decision to lift a cap on banker bonuses. The bank's remuneration committee has begun drafting a new three-year executive pay policy that, for the first time, will take advantage of looser pay rules that have sent potential payouts soaring at rival banks.

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.

Ofcom says it is conducting an urgent assessment of X in response, with the backing of Technology Secretary Liz Kendall. But the chairwomen of Parliament's technology and media committees have both said they are concerned that "gaps" in the Online Safety Act might hinder the media regulator's ability to deal with the matter. X has now limited the use of AI image function to those who pay a monthly fee, a change dubbed by Downing Street as "insulting" to victims of sexual violence.

Ministers will ramp up the closure of migrant hotels in Spring as part of plans to reduce pressure on the asylum system. Home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced sweeping changes to immigration reforms at the end of last year, which included making refugee status temporary and scrapping the right to family reunion. The Labour government has pledged to end the use of costly asylum hotels by 2029, however, the number of asylum seekers housed in the controversial accommodation has risen year-on-year.

The guidance, first reported by the New Statesman, advised the PJP to consider going to Action Fraud, now known as Report Fraud, and the police to determine whether the issue constituted criminal activity.

Downing Street has condemned the move by X to restrict its AI image creation tool responsible for a wave of explicit picture to paying subscribers only as insulting, saying it simply made the ability to generate unlawful images a premium service. There has been widespread anger after the image tool for Grok, the AI element of X, was used to manipulate thousands of images of women and sometimes children to remove their clothing or put them in sexual positions.

The Emirati government is not imposing a blanket ban, meaning that richer families can still send their children to study in the UK if they pay themselves, while significant funding continues for those who seek university degrees elsewhere. Dozens of suspected Brotherhood members were rounded up and jailed in the UAE. The government supported the Egyptian military when it overthrew the presidency of group member Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

A series of concessions on Labour's flagship workers' rights reforms will save businesses billions of pounds, a government impact assessment shows. An initial analysis by officials found that implementing the party's measures to bolster workers' rights would cost firms up to 5bn a year. However, an updated analysis on Wednesday, which accounted for major concessions made by ministers, said it will now cost companies 1bn a year.

The reason for that is simple: the British state is big and getting bigger but as an agent of change it is not up to the job. This is true at both central and local levels. Over the years, the capacity of government to intervene has been pared back and professional expertise has been lost as council services have been outsourced.

A world on the brink. Regime change in Venezuela. Greenland under threat from Donald Trump. Shadow fleet tanker seized by the US and the Brits in the North Atlantic. The Europeans battling to keep America onside in any Ukraine peace deal. A woman gunned down by ICE agents in Minneapolis. So thank God that some things never change. Be grateful we still have Liz Truss. The UK's lone fixed point.

The current Government is about to take a billion pounds out of the Army this year, so I don't think we can sustain it and actually no one is fooled by it. We would be very stretched. We have a deployment in Estonia. We need to spend real money now, not in 2029, not in 2030, 2040. The OBR itself said that the British Government had not set out a path to 3.5% of GDP by 2035.

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

I have quite a lot of pressure to remove the BBC from X, he said. By the way, that is not what I'll be doing because we need to be on these platforms. We need to give quality information on to these social media platforms, bring people in. I actually think that's critical, because otherwise the Chinese, the Iranians they're flooding the zone. They're investing very hard. We are in a position where the majority of 16 to 34s come to BBC every week we're still fighting that battle.

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.

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.

I don't really care what colour a kid's skin is some deserve to be in poverty and some don't? That makes me pretty angry, she said. Does Nigel Farage want to go around and say: White? Yeah, you can have the money. Black? No, I'm sorry, it's not for you.' What sort of country does he think we are? If you're the mum next door who works in the NHS, has lived here all her life, her kids lived here all their life,

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.

Dan Norris, MP for North East Somerset and Hanham, was suspended from the Labour Party in April and has not attended Parliament since his release on police bail nine months ago. A petition claiming he cannot "fully support" his constituency and demanding his resignation has attracted more than 2,000 signatures. In his first statement since his arrest, Mr Norris said he continues "to represent" his constituents as well as "staying across local and national developments".