For the fourteenth time in a row, the Bank of England has increased its base interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 5.25%. The raise will add pressure on mortgage holders and businesses already feeling the financial squeeze. But the BoE insists the raise is necessary in the fight against inflation, warning the key […]
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Nicola Sturgeon has inisisted she is “innocent of any wrongdoing” following her arrest by police investigating the finances of the SNP. Sturgeon was released without charge after seven hours of questioning on Sunday (June 11) but Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf, leader of the SNP, is being urged to suspend her from the party. Police […]
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A lot has happened since the last local council elections back in 2019. At that time, Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader, and Theresa May was in charge of the Tories, both vowing to break the Brexit impasse. The Conservatives lost more than 1,300 seats while Labour suffered significant losses too, despite expectations to the contrary. […]
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XR (Extinction Rebellion) have warned the government of “unprecedented” civil disobedience with more than 30,000 activists signed up to protest around Westminster for four days, starting on Friday (April 21). A coalition of almost 200 environmental and social justice groups– including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, XR and the PCS Union – are demanding ministers […]
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With junior doctors demanding a 35%-pay rise and the government insisting it cannot afford such a sharp increase, the BMA has asked the government to enlist conciliation service Acas to help end the stand-off. The British Medical Organisation, representing junior doctors, told the BBC that working with Acas provided “the most realistic chance” of ending […]
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Sir Keir Starmer said he makes “zero apologies” for Labour’s hard hitting attack ads explicitly targeting Rishi Sunak for being soft on child sex abusers and criminals. Starmer chose the right-wing Daily Mail to defend the ads, writing in a column that he “makes no apologies at all” for the campaign despite accusations of engaging […]
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Home secretary Suella Braverman is again under fire for her rhetoric, this time in singling out “British-Pakistani males” over concerns about grooming gangs and sexual abuse of children. With an eye on May’s local elections, Braverman said “senior politicians in Labour-run areas” have failed to prevent the abuse because they did not want to “call […]
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The HMRC is sending private debt collectors to universal credit claimants who erroneously and, in most cases through no fault of their own, received overpayments. The government wants to reclaim the money, some of which goes back ten years. According to a Sky News report, the government is cutting benefits to over one million people […]
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Although HSBC stepped in to rescue the UK branch, the fallout from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse will likely ripple on. In an open letter to banking regulators and Rishi Sunak, technology founders and investors with a combined capital of more than £560bn expressed gratitude and relief. Nearly 900 tech industry representatives signed the letter […]
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Children’s charity Coram published its annual Childcare Survey today. The report points to significant childcare shortages, with children from disadvantaged areas missing out the most. Only half of all local areas have sufficient childcare places for under two-year-olds, down seven per cent from last year. Only 48 per cent of local authorities have enough places […]
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