DEBATE: Is there a case for Britain keeping the Elgin Marbles? February 24, 2020 Is there a case for Britain keeping the Elgin Marbles? Tiffany Jenkins, author of Keeping Their Marbles: How Treasures of the Past Ended Up in Museums and Why They Should Stay There, says YES. Throughout history, art objects have passed across borders. No one is suggesting that every Italian Master belongs to the Italian government. [...]
Exclusive: Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey calls for £104m ’emergency crime budget’ February 24, 2020 Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey will attach an amendment to the mayor’s budget in an attempt to inject an extra £104m to the Metropolitan Police’s coffers. The London Assembly will vote on Sadiq Khan’s £17bn 2020-21 mayoral budget at City Hall today. The 25 assembly members can successfully add amendments to the budget, or over [...]
New law to force venues to prepare for terror attacks February 24, 2020 A proposed new law will require the UK’s venue operators to have measures in place to protect the public from terror attacks. The new legislation, labelled as “Protect Duty” by the Home Office, could force operators to increase physical security, conduct training and draw up incident response exercises for staff on what to do during an [...]
Emmanuel Macron ‘not sure’ a UK-EU trade deal can be reached by deadline February 23, 2020 French President Emmanuel Macron has cast doubt that the UK will strike a trade deal with the EU by the government’s 31 January deadline. Negotiations will begin between Brussels and the UK next month, with issues such as financial services regulation, fishing rights and tariffs set to be at the fore of discussions. Boris Johnson’s [...]
Acid-washed chicken could be on the menu in UK-US trade deal February 23, 2020 Environment secretary George Eustice has refused to rule out the prospect of allowing imports of acid washed chicken under a UK-US trade deal. Food standards post-Brexit has been an ongoing issue in Westminster, with opposition parties claiming the Tories are prepared to allow a diversion from the EU’s stringent rules to strike a trade deal [...]
MI5 officials limit information they give home secretary Priti Patel February 23, 2020 The Home Office turf war between Priti Patel and the civil service has escalated, after claims that Mi5 do not trust the home secretary. It has been claimed that officials from the security service have limited the number of briefings they give Patel and that they “roll their eyes” when she contributes at meetings. A [...]
House of Lords allowances surge in ‘rolling expenses scandal’ February 23, 2020 Expenses and allowances claimed by peers in the House of Lords rose by one-third last year in what has been described as a “rolling expenses scandal”. Analysis, by the Sunday Times, found that peers’ daily attendance allowance and expenses rose by 29 per cent to £23m in the year to March 2019. The analysis found [...]
Mayoral candidate Siobhan Benita wants to ‘Love London Better’ February 22, 2020 For a brief moment in 2019, the Liberal Democrats looked a serious chance of upending Britain’s two-party political hegemony. After years in the political wilderness, the party rode a wave of Brexit uncertainty and parliamentary division to top Westminster YouGov polling in late May, eliciting cries of jubilation from long suffering Lib Dem supporters. It’s [...]
Brexit: Blue passports to return from March 2020 February 22, 2020 British passports will return to their original blue colour for the first time since 1988 from next month, when the UK government will issue the first blue passports since the Brexit vote. The first blue passports will be issued from early March and from mid-2020 all new passports issued to Brits will be blue. The [...]
Coronavirus on the G20 agenda as cases outside China multiply February 21, 2020 The coronavirus is set to be on the G20 agenda this weekend as finance leaders from around the world gather in Saudi Arabia. The risk the virus poses to the global economy is set to be discussed as the number of cases continues to creep up and those outside of China multiply. China confirmed the [...]