UK News

Legislation put forward by the UK’s new Labour government to renationalise the country’s rail services, most of which are privately owned, was on Wednesday given the go-ahead by parliament. The bill will bring rail operators into public ownership when the private companies’ contracts expire — or sooner in the event of poor management — and will be managed by “Great ...

Britain’s former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has died following a battle with Alzheimer’s, his family announced. Prescott, an ex-merchant seaman who became a key figure in Tony Blair’s New Labour government, died “peacefully” in a care home at the age of 86, his family said on Thursday. Blair, prime minister between 1997 and 2007, led tributes to his former ...

Hospices will receive extra support to ease the burden of rising National Insurance (NI) contributions, the health secretary has promised. The hospice sector has warned that increased employer NI contributions, following the Budget, and rising wage bills could create a shortfall of tens of millions of pounds next year. Hospice care is free to use, but unlike the NHS, hospices ...

Treasury minister Darren Jones has said the UK government’s commitment to Ukraine is “resolute” amid fears incoming US President Donald Trump could push the country into giving up territory to Russia. Jones told BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, “Ukraine should be able to recover its country as it was previously structured” and that there “shouldn’t be an element of conceding ...

The Queen will miss Remembrance events this weekend while she recovers from a chest infection, Buckingham Palace has said. A statement said Queen Camilla was “following doctors’ guidance to ensure a full recovery from a seasonal chest infection, and to protect others from any potential risk”. The Queen, who is 77, will “mark the occasion privately at home and hopes ...

University graduates across the UK are being urged by a campaign group to check whether they are due a refund on their student loan repayment after it was revealed that nearly £200m was overpaid last year. Save the Student’s comments come after figures were published which show that hundreds of thousands of people currently paying off their loans are eligible ...

The Princess of Wales will attend Remembrance events in London at the weekend, Buckingham Palace has said. She will attend both the Sunday service at the Cenotaph and the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday evening. The princess has been gradually returning to public royal duties following her cancer treatment. The Queen’s attendance will be subject ...

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced an extra £75m to tackle people-smuggling gangs. The cash boost takes funding for the UK’s new Border Security Command (BSC) to a total of £150m for new tech hubs, as well as extra enforcement, intelligence and prosecution staff. In a speech to the Interpol general assembly in Glasgow, Sir Keir called on global ...

New Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has started making the first appointments to her top team, ahead of her new shadow cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Badenoch has given former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott the job of shadow education secretary, with Neil O’Brien appointed shadow education minister, the BBC understands. Both will appear in their new roles in the ...

Kemi Badenoch has won the race to become the new leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, pledging to return it to its founding principles and win back voters after its disastrous election defeat in July. Badenoch, 44, came out on top in the two-horse race with former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, winning 57 percent of the votes of party members. She ...