MPs should ‘put public service first’ after second jobs sting, Michael Gove says March 26, 2023 Levelling-up secretary Michael Gove said today that MPs must “put public service first” after undercover reporting revealed a handful of MPs were willing to provide advice to a foreign company in return for sizeable fees. Politicians Matt Hancock and Kwasi Kwarteng were left red-faced after anti-Brexit campaign group Led By Donkeys released footage of them [...]
UK suffering worst living standards squeeze on record, OBR boss warns March 26, 2023 Brits’ spending power won’t recover to pre-pandemic levels for another half decade, the boss of the UK’s economic watchdog has warned. The UK is experiencing the “biggest squeeze on living standards we’ve faced in this country on record”, Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) chairman Richard Hughes said today. His stark warning came after the regulator’s [...]
New laws introduced to boost ship workers’ pay in bid to close P&O Ferries loophole March 24, 2023 In wake of the P&O Ferries scandal, new laws have been introduced to ensure seafarers with close links to Britain are paid the national minimum wage. The move has been taken in a bid to improve working conditions on ships after P&O Ferries decision to fire 800 of its staff last year. Shipowners will now [...]
Keir Starmer follows Rishi Sunak and publishes tax return March 23, 2023 Sir Keir Starmer has published his tax returns, showing he paid £67,000 in tax over the last year. The Labour leader paid £51,547 in 2020/21 and £67,033 in 2021/22, he said, which is a total of £118,607. It came just a day after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak published his own tax returns, which revealed he [...]
Parliament bans TikTok as its CEO is grilled by US Congress over China data security concerns March 23, 2023 TikTok is to be blocked from all parliamentary devices amid rising concerns over data security and links to the Chinese government. The social media video sharing app will be blocked from use on all phones issued by the House of Commons and the House of Lords – just weeks after the government took a similar [...]
UK-India trade agreement ‘about deal and not dates’, minister says March 23, 2023 The UK’s talks with India are “about the deal and not the dates”, a minister has insisted as a Conservative backbencher queried government progress towards a free trade agreement. Trade minister Nigel Huddleston told the Commons “we will not tie our hands in terms of setting an arbitrary deadline”. He spoke in response to Conservative [...]
Starmer rejects ‘heads must roll’ approach to Met Police reform March 23, 2023 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said he does not believe in a “heads must roll” approach to reforming the Met Police after an excoriating review into the failing force. Starmer said he would resist a “structural, break-it-up, heads must roll model” to overhauling the force. “I’ve seen that too often before where something goes [...]
Defiant Boris Johnson insists ‘I did not lie’ and claimed boozy leaving do was ‘essential’ March 22, 2023 A defiant Boris Johnson insisted he “did not lie to the House” and claimed a boozy leaving do was “essential for work” in a fiery evidence session set to determine his political future. Johnson underwent a fierce grilling by the cross-party privileges committee, as MPs aimed to decide if he misled – intentionally or recklessly [...]
Rishi Sunak publishes tax return and reveals he paid £430k last year March 22, 2023 Rishi Sunak has published his tax returns and revealed he paid more than £430,000 in the UK last year. The prime minister paid £227,350 in 2019/20; £393,217 in 2020/21; and £432,493 in 2021/22. The prime minister’s documents, published on gov.uk, cover his time as prime minister and chancellor. Sunak first pledged to reveal his tax [...]
Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal passes despite 22 Tory MPs rebelling including Johnson, Patel, Truss and IDS March 22, 2023 MPs have voted in favour of regulations to implement the Stormont brake aspect of Rishi Sunak’s Windsor Framework Brexit deal by 515 votes to 29. The prime minister’s agreement with the EU on a revised plan for post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland (NI) was backed by a majority of 486 MPs in the House of [...]