Lead News

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has defended the decision to reject compensation for women hit by changes to the state pension age, arguing that the taxpayer “simply can’t afford the tens of billions of pounds” in payments. He added that “90% of those impacted knew about the changes that were taking place”. However, during Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir was repeatedly ...

The Chinese embassy has told the UK to “stop creating trouble”, after a businessman accused of being a spy for China was banned from the country. The revelations about Yang Tengbo, who denies wrongdoing, and his links to Prince Andrew, have sparked renewed calls for the UK to designate China a threat to national security. The issue poses a dilemma ...

District councils could be abolished and more elected mayors introduced across England under new plans for a major redesign of local government. Ministers are set to publish a paper on Monday outlining plans for mergers in areas where there are currently two tiers of local authority – smaller district and larger county councils – in a bid to streamline services. ...

The British government said it will release 50 million pounds ($63 million) of humanitarian aid for “the most vulnerable” Syrians in Syria and in neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan, the foreign ministry said Sunday. “We’re committed to supporting the Syrian people as they chart a new course,” Foreign Minister David Lammy said in a statement, reports AFP. The funds, which for ...

Britain on Sunday became the first European nation to join a major Indo-Pacific trading bloc, in what has been hailed as the country’s biggest trade deal since Brexit. The UK is officially now the 12th member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The UK formally signed the accession treaty last year, reports AFP. Officials hope membership ...

Court delays experienced by victims and defendants are unacceptable, the man leading the government’s review into the backlog of criminal cases has said. Sir Brian Leveson, a retired High Court judge, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme “radical” steps would need to be taken to tackle the “crisis” which has seen cases added to the criminal justice system “faster than ...

Legal hopes are rising for Shamima Begum, the London-born woman who joined the Daesh (Islamic State group) as a teenager, following potential changes in the Syrian political landscape. Begum’s lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee, said that the ongoing destabilisation of Syria could provide a fresh avenue for her return to Britain, the Telegraph reported. According to him, the 25-year-old, who has been ...

A British Indian MP has expressed his concerns over a new bill tabled in the House of Commons that seeks to ban marriages between first cousins over the greater risk of children’s birth defects associated with the practice. The Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Bill got its first reading in Parliament on Tuesday (10) when backbench Tory MP Richard Holden ...

Britain on Thursday outlined details of an overhaul to its planning system to boost growth and hit a target of 1.5 million new homes in the next five years, including ordering local authorities to build more houses. The housebuilding target was one of six “milestones” announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer a week ago as he pledged to revamp a ...

Public sector workers will only get above inflation pay increases if they improve productivity, Downing Street has said. Unions have reacted with anger to proposals for a 2.8% pay increase for teachers, NHS staff and senior civil servants next year. The British Medical Association (BMA) said there was a “very real risk” of further industrial action if “pay erosion” was ...