UK News

The government will end a contract with a provider of hotel places for asylum seekers after an audit identified concerns about the firm’s performance. Stay Belvedere Hotels (SBHL) provides around a quarter of Home Office asylum accommodation in 51 hotels in England and Wales. It also operates Napier Barracks in Kent, which houses people awaiting asylum decisions and is due ...

Dozens of military leaders from countries interested in supporting Ukraine’s security during a potential ceasefire with Russia will gather in the UK on Thursday to discuss plans for a peacekeeping force. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is co-leading efforts to form a “coalition of the willing” alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, is set to address the meeting, which will ...

His father, Ershad Ali, was killed while serving in the Merchant Navy during World War II Sylhet resident Ataur Rahman has made a “request” to remove his father’s name from Tower Hill Memorial, a World War II memorial in London. He applied for a UK visa in December last year to visit the monument and pay respect to his fallen ...

The UK government is ending funding for Islamophobia reporting service Tell Mama, The Guardian reported on Saturday. The project, founded in 2012, is now facing closure weeks after it reported a record number of anti-Muslim hate incidents across the country. Since its launch, Tell Mama has been wholly funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The ministry ...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer greeted President Volodymyr Zelenskiy with a warm embrace on Saturday after the Ukrainian leader flew to London for talks following his clash at the White House with U.S. President Donald Trump, reports Reuters. In an extraordinary Oval Office meeting on Friday, Trump threatened to withdraw support for Ukraine, three years after Russia invaded its smaller ...

The number of people claiming asylum in the UK in 2024 has reached its highest level since records began in 1979, Home Office figures show. According to data published on Thursday, 108,138 people claimed asylum in the year to December 2024 – an increase of 18% on 2023 and almost twice the number in 2021. The Home Office said the ...

MP Mike Amesbury, who admitted repeatedly punching a constituent in the street, has had his 10-week prison sentence suspended following an appeal. The Runcorn and Helsby MP assaulted Paul Fellows, 45, following a row in Frodsham, Cheshire, last year and was jailed by magistrates on Monday. Amesbury, who had the Labour whip removed in October, launched an appeal and a ...

Sir Keir Starmer has reiterated his call for a US security guarantee in Ukraine to deter Vladimir Putin from invading again, as he prepares to meet Donald Trump. Speaking on the plane to Washington DC, Sir Keir said he hoped the UK-US relationship could go from “strength to strength”. But the two leaders appear to be at odds over the ...

Suspended Labour MP Mike Amesbury has been jailed for 10 weeks after he admitted punching a man to the ground in his Cheshire constituency. Amesbury, 55, who represents Runcorn and Helsby as an independent MP, pleaded guilty to assaulting 45-year-old Paul Fellows after video footage emerged showing the confrontation. He had his Labour whip removed after the incident in Frodsham, ...

US President Donald Trump has “changed the global conversation” on Ukraine, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said, three years on from Russia’s full-scale invasion. Sir Keir suggested Trump had “created an opportunity” to end the war, in a speech to an international summit on supporting Ukraine in Kyiv. The prime minister also appeared to contradict President Trump by saying ...