DUP minister plans to halt all port checks in Northern Ireland as Brexit row heats up January 28, 2022 Stormont’s First Minister has said has said a DUP Stormont minister will act unilaterally to halt Brexit checks at Northern Ireland ports. Paul Givan said his party colleague Edwin Poots will order a stop to the controversial checks after a failed bid to secure the wider approval of the Stormont Executive to continue them. The [...]
Liz Truss dismisses misuse of public money claims as Foreign Secretary spent £500,000 to fly to Australia January 28, 2022 Liz Truss’ recent journey to Australia has reportedly cost taxpayers around £500,000. However, the Foreign Secretary has defended chartering a private jet. The Independent reported the Foreign Secretary had opted for the chartered flight for her trip last week due to security concerns, although commercial routes were available. The newspaper said she had travelled on [...]
University puts trigger warning on Harry Potter January 28, 2022 The English department at the University of Chester have issued a trigger warning on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, saying it could lead “difficult conversations about gender, race, sexuality, class, and identity”. As part of a first year module, “Approaches to Literature” module, freshers are required to read JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book [...]
PM mulls tax hike U-turn as govt awaits Sue Gray’s report: ‘Boris would now do anything to survive’ January 28, 2022 While questions loom over the future of Boris Johnson’s premiership in light of an official inquiry into partygate allegations, the prime minister is reportedly wavering on controversial plans to raise national insurance. The PM is under pressure from some Tory MPs to scrap the tax hike to win back support as he awaits the findings [...]
US officials echo concerns about Russian ‘dirty money’ in London hindering sanctions January 28, 2022 US officials have raised concerns about effective sanctions on President Putin if Russia invades Ukraine because of “dirty money” tolerance in the UK.
Tugendhat: UK must block Russian access to the City to help stop Ukraine war January 28, 2022 The UK must get tough and block Russia from the City of London’s vast web of financial services if it is to help stop an invasion of Ukraine, senior Tory Tom Tugendhat has said. The Foreign Affairs Committee chair writes in City A.M. today that Boris Johnson should “close down the options that allow” Vladimir [...]
Partygate: Boris Johnson vows to publish Sue Gray report in full January 27, 2022 Boris Johnson has today vowed to publish the full Sue Gray report into allegations of lockdown-busting Downing Street parties. Johnson also said he was “absolutely not” seeking to delay the release of the report as expectations now mount that Gray’s findings won’t be handed to Number 10 until next week. It is believed the Metropolitan [...]
Treasury Committee chair joins chorus of MPs urging government to ditch national insurance hike January 27, 2022 The chair of an influential group of cross-party MPs that scrutinise the government’s spending plans has joined the chorus of policy makers calling for the national insurance hike to be scrapped. Tory MP Mel Stride, who chairs the Treasury Committee, urged the government to cancel the looming 1.25 percentage point national insurance rise to ease [...]
Nadhim Zahawi was ‘instrumental’ in helping Greensill become Covid lender January 27, 2022 Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi was allegedly “instrumental” in helping failed financial firm Greensill Capital lend £400m of Covid loans that are now subject to a fraud investigation, it has been revealed Greensill Capital, who collapsed in March last year and counted David Cameron among its employees, lent £400m of government-backed loans to Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG [...]
Recruitment for Ofcom Chair ‘would put a reality TV series to shame’ says Tory MP January 27, 2022 Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Chair Julian Knight MP has called the recruitment process for the next Chair of Ofcom a "shambles", as the process lingers on following Paul Dacre controversy.