Saudi Arabia admits missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at its consulate October 20, 2018 Saudi Arabia admitted yesterday that missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at its Istanbul consulate, but claims he died in a fight. The admission follows two weeks of denials from Saudi Arabia that it was involved in the dissident journalist’s disappearance, despite CCTV footage showing Khashoggi entering the embassy and claims from Turkish authorities that they had [...]
What the Clegg? Facebook taps former Lib Dem leader as its next head of global affairs October 19, 2018 Facebook has hired former Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg to be its next head of global affairs and communications, with the ex-politician set to move to Silicon Valley in January. Clegg will take over from the role's former occupant Elliot Schrage, who personally led the search for his replacement after announcing he would be leaving Facebook following [...]
Tory MP says he wouldn’t vote for his own party today October 19, 2018 A Conservative MP has said he wouldn't vote for his party if he wasn't already in parliament, labelling Theresa May's government a "s**tshow". Johnny Mercer, elected in 2015 as the representative for Plymouth Moor View, told the parliament's The House magazine yesterday that there was "absolutely no chance" he would run for a Tory candidacy [...]
Solving workplace equality will need more than ethnicity pay reporting October 19, 2018 Theresa May’s call to make companies report their ethnicity pay gap comes from a good place. It harks back to her 2016 “burning injustices” speech, in which she pledged to tackle social inequality – and suggests that she meant it. It also comes after some success with gender pay gap reporting, which it clearly hopes [...]
Public borrowing falls to a 16-year low ahead of Philip Hammond’s autumn Budget October 19, 2018 Public borrowing fell to a 16-year low for the current financial year-to-date, figures released today reveal. The deficit stood at £19.9bn for the year to September, £10.7bn less than the same period a year ago and the lowest for the year-to-date since 2002. Read more: British consumer borrowing growth slowest since 2015 as debt stutters [...]
Brexit deal is 90 per cent agreed, says Barnier, but Northern Ireland impasse may scupper it October 19, 2018 A Brexit deal between the UK and the EU is very close to completion, politicians on both sides of the table said this morning. However, the prospect of reaching an agreement is still in doubt, said the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier. “Ninety per cent of the accord on the table has been agreed with [...]
No one in their right mind wants another year of Brexit transition – except the EU October 19, 2018 Who is smiling on the Prime Minister’s announcement that the transition period after exiting the EU could be extended by an extra year? Not the hardline Brexiteers, many of whom think that the UK should have left the bloc yesterday. Not the ultra-Remainers either – an extension of the transition still leads to the inevitable [...]
Theresa May’s bungled Brexit backstop plan means that once again nothing has changed October 18, 2018 The gathering of EU leaders in Brussels this week was supposed to bring clarity, not confusion, to the Brexit negotiations. After the PR disaster of Salzburg, both sides needed to at least act like the talks were going in the right direction and a deal was doable. But as with so much of the Brexit [...]
Theresa May rows back from Brexit transition extension after Tory backlash October 18, 2018 Theresa May has tried to downplay anger over a plan to extend the UK’s post-Brexit transition period, just hours after flagging the idea to EU leaders. Speaking in Brussels, the PM claimed keeping the UK signed up to EU rules for a further year was not her idea – but could indeed be a solution [...]
Gatwick Airport publishes proposals to use emergency runway October 18, 2018 Gatwick Airport has published controversial plans to use its standby runway to increase capacity in a move that has been branded as "subterfuge" by campaigners. The plans mean the airport's standby or emergency runway will effectively operate as a second runway, which Gatwick has called for to increase its constrained capacity. The airport lost out [...]