Sunak to meet Oz and NZ leaders as trade deal – which promises cheaper manuka honey and Jacob’s Creek – takes effect May 5, 2023 Rishi Sunak is set to welcome the leaders of Australia and New Zealand to No10 ahead of the UK’s landmark post-Brexit trade deals coming into force. The prime minister will meet Australian PM Anthony Albanese and Chris Hipkins, prime minister of New Zealand, in Downing Street today. It comes as the UK’s trade deals with [...]
Local elections analysis: Do results suggest fear of complacency was misplaced? May 5, 2023 Poll leads can be a tricky thing for opposition parties, as Labour has shown in recent weeks. Lean in too far and risk appearing complacent. But downplay it too much, and you could fail to capitalise on a popularity boost. What everyone – from activists to frontbenchers – really want is cold, hard evidence of [...]
Local elections: Tories suffer big losses including commuter belt councils Hertsmere, Brentwood, Windsor and Maidenhead May 5, 2023 The Conservatives have been hit by major losses in the local elections – losing over a third of their council seats so far. Losses include key commuter belt councils Hertsmere, Brentwood and Windsor and Maidenhead – which includes former prime minister Theresa May’s constituency. It was prime minister Rishi Sunak’s first significant electoral test since [...]
Sunak: Politics no longer ‘box set drama’ as local elections open May 4, 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said politics is moving away from a “box set drama” style following months of turbulence. His comments came on the eve of local elections across England today (4 May) with requirements for voters to present photo ID at the ballot box coming in for the first time. Sunak is facing [...]
Covid cash lost to fraud down by third because we’re ‘going after everybody’, Sunak claims May 3, 2023 Government cash lost to fraud and error via Covid-19 business and jobs support schemes has been reduced by a third thanks to “hundreds of criminal investigations”, Rishi Sunak has claimed. The prime minister defended the pandemic business loans and job support and vowed his government was “going after everybody” in a bid to reclaim the [...]
HMRC tax-dodging prosecutions drop – and it has no plans to change that May 3, 2023 HMRC is prosecuting far fewer people for tax dodging than before the pandemic, an influential committee of MPs has warned. Over the two pandemic years, the tax authority completed around 1,000 fewer prosecutions for tax-related offences than before the pandemic, a report by the influential Public Accounts Committee found. In 2020–21 and 2021–22, it concluded [...]
Over a million commuters to be hit by Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ expansion, London Tories claim May 3, 2023 More than a million people that commute into London could be hit by Sadiq Khan’s expansion of the City’s ultra low emission zone (ULEZ), City Hall Conservatives have argued. Under the expansion, motorists with petrol and diesel cars that don’t meet emissions standards will face a £12.50 daily charge or a £180 fine for each [...]
Mayoral Elections 2024: Who is in the frame to run against Sadiq Khan? May 2, 2023 London Conservatives are set to agree a candidate by the end of July to face off against Sadiq Khan in next year’s mayoral elections, it has emerged. Tory chiefs met earlier this week and agreed to fast-track the process, as campaigning begins to ramp up ahead of the City Hall vote to be held in [...]
UK must change post-Brexit visa rules to help firms with labour shortages, report says April 29, 2023 The UK government needs to change post-Brexit visa rules in order to help firms overcome worsening labour shortages, UK lawmakers have said in a new report. The complexity of visa regulations in the wake of Britain exiting the EU has proved a “significant barrier to mobility”, a report by the House of Lords European Affairs [...]
Post-Brexit visa rules hurting London tourism industry, Sadiq Khan warns April 27, 2023 The mayor has called on the government to ease travel rules around European school children, language students and hospitality, construction and retail workers.