Khan: Met needs change ‘at highest levels’ in wake of damning corruption report March 22, 2022 Sadiq Khan has vowed to change the Metropolitan Police at “the highest levels” in response to a damning report into police corruption, with the mayor putting the force’s leadership on notice. The London mayor said the “Met leadership simply must do more” to combat corruption, while also appearing to blame them for the fact that [...]
Trevelyan claims Joe Biden now open to post-Brexit UK-US trade deal March 22, 2022 Joe Biden has changed his position and is now open to restart UK-US negotiations for a post-Brexit trade deal, according to UK international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan. The international trade secretary also said the US is preparing to drop its Trump-era tariffs on British steel exports, with an announcement to come as soon as this [...]
London’s councils call for share of £2.6bn levelling up fund March 22, 2022 London’s councils are calling for a slice of the £2.6bn fund earmarked for the government’s levelling up agenda to also be given to the capital in Rishi Sunak’s spring economic statement tomorrow. London Councils, an association representing all 32 of the capital’s councils, has urged Sunak to ensure that London receives from the UK Shared [...]
Russia accused of ‘real act of genocide’ in Ukraine as troops fire on protesters March 21, 2022 Vladimir Putin was accused of committing a “real act of genocide” in Ukraine today as Russian troops fired on peaceful protesters and reports swirled of forced deportations from the port city of Mariupol. Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said during a trip to London that some cities had been “wiped off the face of the [...]
Met has sent out 100 questionnaires in its Number 10 ‘partygate’ investigation March 21, 2022 The Metropolitan Police has sent out 100 questionnaires during its ongoing investigation into the Number 10 partygate scandal. The police today said it had been begun interviewing witnesses, however no fixed penalty notices have been given out. Outgoing Met commissioner Cressida Dick launched an investigation into the saga in January, with the police looking into [...]
Number 10: Russian state actors made prank calls to Ben Wallace and other ministers March 21, 2022 Prank calls to defence secretary Ben Wallace and home secretary Priti Patel last week were made by Russian state actors, according to Number 10. Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said the calls come “straight from the Kremlin playbook to try and distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine and their human rights abuses there”. Wallace said [...]
Extra 125,000 workers will pay National Insurance in ‘stealth tax’ hike March 20, 2022 An extra 125,000 people will have to pay National Insurance under Rishi Sunak’s current tax plans, new research has revealed. Research compiled by the Liberal Democrats, using figures from the House of Commons library, suggest that employees face an extra £1.1bn hit through a “stealth tax” if Sunak does not increase the current threshold by [...]
Labour: UK’s Ukrainian refugee scheme ‘unworkable’ in current form March 20, 2022 The UK’s scheme to give Ukrainian refugees British visas will be “completely unworkable” unless the government cuts red tape and provides more help to people offering their homes, shadow housing secretary Lisa Nandy has said. The Homes for Ukraine scheme was launched last week, with refugees able to come to the UK if they have [...]
Turkey claims Ukraine and Russia have inched closer to peace deal March 20, 2022 Ukraine and Russia have moved closer toward a peace deal and have agreed on four points in principle, according to Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. Cavusoglu told local Turkish media today that there had been a “convergence” between the Russian and Ukrainian governments during peace talks over the past week. He said there had been [...]
P&O Ferries’ move to sack 800 staff was ‘awful’, says Sunak March 20, 2022 P&O Ferries’ move to sack 800 staff this week was “apalling” and “wrong”, Rishi Sunak has said today. The chancellor said he would now be investigating whether the actions of P&O were legal. The shipping and logistics firm, which is owned by Dubai-based DP World, told 800 workers over Zoom that they had been made [...]