The Chief of the Defence Staff has said the military is not “spare capacity” to be used as cover during strikes. Plans to deploy 1,200 troops to drive ambulances and staff the country’s borders – alongside 1,000 civil servants – have been confirmed by the government. The cost is estimated to be £5.6 million. Unions […]
Continue Reading
The government is holding a Cobra emergency meeting to deal with the wave of strikes hitting Britain across multiple sectors. Ministers will discuss deploying the military to drive ambulances and civil servants to cover Border Force staff as strikes escalate. Nurses, rail and postal staff are also among workers taking industrial action this month in […]
Continue Reading
Nurses have voted for the biggest strike in NHS history after a decade of paycuts that has seen their pay fall 20% since 2010. The first ever national strike by members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) will be held before Christmas, the Observer reports. While disruption to services is inevitable, the government said […]
Continue Reading
Boris Johnson’s premiership has been plunged into yet another crisis with the Conservative party chairman Oliver Dowden resigning in the immediate wake of double by-election defeats. The Liberal Democrats overturned a 24,000 Conservative majority in Tiverton and Honiton to inflict the Tories’ biggest by-election defeat in British political history. Labour piled on the pressure on […]
Continue Reading
Three cabinet ministers are among 56 serving MPs who have been reported to a parliamentary watchdog over allegations of sexual misconduct. Around 70 separate complaints – including at least one believed to involve criminality – have been referred to parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), the Sunday Times reports. Two shadow cabinet ministers are […]
Continue Reading
Andy McDonald has been accused of sabotage after his resignation as shadow employment secretary plunged the Labour party conference into disarray. McDonald – described as the last Corbynite in Sir Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet – quit over the leadership’s failure to support a £15-per-hour minimum wage with a damning claim the party is “more divided […]
Continue Reading
The culture secretary Oliver Dowden has hailed plans to replace EU data laws with a new “light touch” British framework as “one of the biggest prizes” of Brexit. Dowden said the new rules will deliver a “data dividend” that will boost economic growth in the digital economy. His comments come as the UK’s economic recovery […]
Continue Reading
Boris Johnson has warned vaccinated people not to meet up indoors this Easter because the jabs “are not 100% effective”. The prime minister’s video message comes as politicians across party divides are uniting to oppose the possible introduction of vaccine passports that risk creating “a two tier nation of division”. More than 70 MPs and […]
Continue Reading
The UK’s culture secretary has announced that Chinese company Huawei will be stripped completely from the UK’s 5G network by 2027 – just six months after the government confirmed the firm would play a major role in the nation’s communications network. Oliver Dowden told telecoms companies they have seven years to remove all Huawei kit […]
Continue Reading
The government is ploughing ahead with its plans to ease the lockdown in England despite growing concerns from its scientific advisers about the timing of the loosening of rules and restrictions. Up to a dozen experts from the SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) committee and its subcommittees have warned it is too early for […]
Continue Reading