Brexit: Deep decline in EU to UK trade as imports plunge by 25 per cent April 26, 2022 Imports from the EU have dropped by 25 per cent, according to a new study. The new report says there was a sharp drop in the number of trading ties between British exporters and EU importers after the Brexit deal was signed, with “lower value” relationships hit, as Britain stopped selling to smaller countries in [...]
Guardian and FT not welcome: Patel excludes major UK newspapers from trip to Rwanda April 26, 2022 Priti Patel’s Home Office reportedly excluded reporters from some of the UK’s biggest newspapers from joining her on a trip to Rwanda. The Financial Times, Guardian as well as the Mirror were not welcome during Patel’s visit to Kigali earlier this month, when the Home Secretary flew to Africa to sign the much-criticised asylum seekers [...]
Jaws drop as Boris Johnson’s father hosts Chinese ambassador banned from parliament for intimate lunch at home April 26, 2022 It has emerged Boris Johnson’s father Stanley invited the Chinese ambassador in the UK to his home for lunch, the same ambassador that was banned from parliament after China imposed travel bans and asset freezes against five British MPs and two peers. Zheng Zeguang, China’s ambassador to the UK, showed up at Stanley Johnson’s home [...]
Pandemic passport chaos: Millions put summer plans on hold amid ‘virtually unprecedented’ backlog to meet post-Brexit target April 26, 2022 A “virtually unprecedented” surge in applications for passports after the pandemic has put millions of people’s summer holiday plans in the balance. The country has been urged to get new applications in as “quickly as possible” to meet post-Brexit rules about passport validation, requiring at least three months remaining before being able to renew. This [...]
EU unable to reach consensus on Russian oil embargo April 25, 2022 The EU remains unable to reach a consensus for a complete embargo or punitive tariff on Russian oil and gas imports.
Ukraine: US wants ‘Russia weakened’ to stop further expansion April 25, 2022 The US wants to see “Russia weakened” so it cannot pursue any further hostile military expansion, US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin has said. Austin said Russia has “already lost … a lot of its troops” during the war and that Vladimir Putin has “failed” in his attempted invasion of Ukraine. Austin’s strong statement came [...]
Taking ‘real action’: InPost founder Rafal Brzoska sends 500 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Ukraine April 25, 2022 One of Poland's richest men Rafal Brzoska sent a train carrying over 500 tonnes of food and medical supplies to Ukraine this weekend, in what he calls taking "real action".
US commits $300m more to Ukraine’s fight against Russia, as Moscow accusing Washington of ‘pouring oil on the flames’ April 25, 2022 The United States has committed an extra $300m in military assistance to Ukraine, as the Kremlin warns it was “pouring oil on the flames” of the war. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stepped onto the tarmac in Kyiv this week as he met president Vlodymyr Zelensky in the Ukrainian capital. During the visit, accompanied by [...]
Commons speaker summons Mail journalists over ‘misogynistic’ Angela Rayner story April 25, 2022 House of Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has summoned the Mail on Sunday’s editor over a “misogynistic and offensive” article about Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner. Hoyle said he would discuss the “demeaning” article with the Mail, with rumours abound that the Commons speaker could take the unprecedented step of banning journalists from the newspaper [...]
One in ten big UK firms failing in legal requirement to have modern slavery statement April 25, 2022 A tenth of big British firms are failing to meet the legal requirement of having a statement on modern slavery. A recent sampling of 100 companies by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) found a tenth didn’t address the scourge, which generates £126bn annually. The FRC looked at 100 annual reports for firms which are regulated [...]