Tag: UK

Sunak Criticised for Releasing Tax Documents During Partygate Grilling

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been criticised for releasing long-awaited tax documents during his predecessor Boris Johnson’s partygate grilling. MPs questioned why Sunak—who made almost £2 million through income and capital gains in one year—chose to publish his tax affairs on Wednesday, one of the busiest news days in Westminster. On top of Johnson’s five-hour-long…


A Third of Adult Social Care Providers Considering Leaving the Market: Report

A third of adult social care providers are considering leaving the market amid financial pressures and staff shortages, the care home industry has warned. According to a joint report from Care England, which represents care homes in England, and learning disability charity Hft (pdf), the adult social care industry is teetering on the “edge of a…


British GPs Most Stressed and Least Likely to Meet Patients, Survey Finds

Among primary care physicians in ten high-income countries, British general practitioners (GPs) were the most likely to feel stressed out in 2022, most likely to change careers in the near future, and least likely to meet patients in person, survey results show. According to a study published on Wednesday, seven in ten (71 percent) GPs in the…


Teacher Shortages Worsen as Rise of Home Working Makes Profession Less Attractive: Report

Teacher shortages have worsened in England following the COVID-19 pandemic partly because the profession offers relatively limited opportunities to work from home, a new report has said. According to the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), the number of teacher vacancies posted by schools was 93 percent higher in the academic year up to February…


Nigerian Senator and Wife Convicted in UK of Buying Kidney for Daughter in Landmark Legal Case

A senior Nigerian politician, his wife, and a middleman have been convicted of exploiting a young street trader from Lagos whose kidney they needed in order to save the life of the couple’s seriously ill daughter. Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and medical “middleman” Obinna Obeta, 50, were found guilty of conspiring to…


4,000 Air Pollution Deaths Claim Behind ULEZ Expansion Is ‘Bad Science’: Report

The science behind Sadiq Khan’s claim that thousands of people will die from toxic air to justify his ULEZ expansion is “very far from unequivocal,” a new report suggests. New research is challenging the science and claims behind Sadiq Khan’s air pollution-cutting scheme ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) that’ll charge motorists by the day to drive. The…


Sunak’s Windsor Framework Deal Passes First Parliamentary Hurdle

A new post-Brexit trading arrangement for Northern Ireland has cleared its first parliamentary hurdle after MPs voted in its favour. Despite opposition from some Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 515 politicians voted in favour of implementing the new Windsor Framework’s “Stormont brake”—with 29 opposing the UK-EU agreed mechanism. In total, 22 Conservatives rebelled…


Security Minister Tom Tugendhat Tells MPs ‘Soft Bigotry’ May Create Tolerance for Islamist Extremism

Security minister Tom Tugendhat has said the “bigotry of low expectations” may be to blame for under-reporting of concerns about Islamist extremism to the UK government’s Prevent programme. Tugendhat told Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee on Wednesday that a kind of “soft bigotry” is enabling tolerance for Islamist extremism “in a way that there quite…


Dependence on China for Critical Minerals Makes the UK Vulnerable, MPs Told

Depending on China for rare earth minerals puts the UK in a vulnerable position because the “entire future” of manufacturing is based on them, a select committee of MPs heard on Tuesday. Asked which UK sectors are most vulnerable because of China’s dominance in critical minerals, Jeff Townsend, founder of the Critical Minerals Association, told a Foreign…


Boris Johnson Denies Lying to Parliament Over Partygate Scandal at Crucial Hearing

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has denied he lied to Parliament over the “partygate” scandal, as he was questioned by MPs in a hearing that could determine his political fate. Giving evidence on Wednesday to the Privileges Committee in the House of Commons, Johnson said: “I’m here to say to you—hand on heart—that I did…