Lead News

The UK is providing £500,000 or Tk 7.5 crores of humanitarian assistance to communities affected by Cyclone Remal in southwestern Bangladesh. Cyclone Remal has affected 4.6 million people and displaced 800,000 people. British Chargé d’affaires to Bangladesh, Matt Cannell, said, “The UK stands with all those affected by Cyclone Remal, which has displaced 800,000 people in southwestern Bangladesh.” “I am ...

King Charles paid a heartfelt tribute to those who had taken part in the D-Day landings, praising them for “replacing tyranny with freedom”. “We are eternally in their debt,” the King told an 80th anniversary commemoration. He was speaking in Portsmouth, one of the key departure points for the Normandy landings in June 1944. The King hailed the “courage, resilience ...

Barking council leader Darren Rodwell has been removed from the list of election candidates being approved today by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC). An internal process into allegations concerning Mr Rodwell is under way, the BBC understands. The NEC will likely make a decision over who will be Labour’s candidate in the seat in the next 48 hours. Darren Rodwell ...

The number of visas available to migrants would be reduced each year under a new Conservative government, the prime minister has promised. For the first time, MPs would get a vote on annual government proposals aimed at regularly reducing numbers, which would be based on recommendations from the expert Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). Although no figures were suggested for a ...

Nigel Farage had a drink thrown over him after launching his personal election campaign in Clacton-on-Sea. The Reform UK leader was leaving a pub after carrying out media interviews when a woman – who only gave her name as Victoria to reporters – poured the drink over his suit jacket. The veteran politician was walking to the Reform UK party ...

John Swinney will urge people to “vote SNP to put Scotland’s interests first” as he formally launches the party’s general election campaign. Mr Swinney will tell activists and candidates at a rally in Glasgow later that Westminster decision-making has meant “austerity, Brexit and a cost of living crisis being imposed on Scotland”. Scotland’s first minister will stress his belief in ...

Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to cut levels of net migration to the UK if his party wins the general election. The Labour leader said he would introduce new laws to train British workers to plug skills gaps in the job market and strengthen anti-exploitation laws. He did not put a timeframe or a target figure on his promise, but ...

The Conservatives have pledged to give 30 towns across the UK £20m each in an expansion of its levelling-up policy, if the party is re-elected. Areas including Tamworth, Halifax, Newtown and Perth would benefit from the funding, with local people deciding how it would be used. But Labour branded the levelling-up pledge a “phoney gimmick” that had failed to deliver ...

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said Diane Abbott is “free to go forward as a Labour candidate”, ending days of speculation about the veteran left-winger’s future. Ms Abbott, the first female black MP, had claimed she had been banned from standing for Labour at the general election on 4 July. Sir Keir has now given Ms Abbott his blessing ...

Former Conservative MP Mark Logan has said he is backing Labour at the next general election, saying the party could “bring back optimism into British life”. In an exclusive interview with BBC News, Mr Logan, who represented Bolton North East for the Tories until Parliament dissolved on Thursday, said Labour had been on a “journey” and now offered “centrist politics”. ...