Nicola Sturgeon: Kate Forbes enters SNP race as Angus Robertson rules himself out February 20, 2023 Scotland’s finance secretary Kate Forbes has announced she will run to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and first minister of Scotland. Announcing her decision on Twitter she said: “I am today launching my bid to become Scotland’s next first minister, with the vision, experience and competence to inspire voters across Scotland.” In a video [...]
Humza Yousaf and Ash Regan enter SNP leadership race to replace Nicola Sturgeon February 19, 2023 Battle lines were drawn at Holyrood this weekend as Humza Yousaf and Ash Regan entered the race to replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and Scotland’s first minister. Launching his campaign, health secretary Yousaf, 37, told the Sunday Mail he was confident he had the “experience” to take on the “top job in the country”. [...]
‘Great mistake’: Boris Johnson warns Rishi Sunak over post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol February 19, 2023 Boris Johnson has warned Rishi Sunak it would be a “great mistake” to drop the Northern Ireland protocol amid speculation a deal between the UK and the EU is close. It comes as a new post-Brexit trading arrangement for Northern Ireland is expected to emerge within days after the Prime Minister met with Stormont leaders [...]
Boris Johnson brands ULEZ expansion a ‘mad lefty tax’ February 15, 2023 Boris Johnson has branded Sadiq Khan’s plans to expand the ULEZ across the capital a “mad lefty tax” and accused him of “bankrupting TfL”. The ex-prime minister and London mayor weighed in on the row over the controversial scheme, which would see drivers of non-compliant vehicles charged £12.50 a day. In a video posted on [...]
Nicola Sturgeon quits as Scotland’s First Minister but insists resignation is ‘not a reaction to short-term pressures’ February 15, 2023 Nicola Sturgeon has resigned from her role as first minister of Scotland following a series of political setbacks. Speaking in Edinburgh this morning, Sturgeon said serving as first minister had been a “privilege beyond measure” as she announced her resignation. She confirmed she would stay in office until a replacement had been chosen and indicated [...]
Ex-spy chief warns balloon ‘gross transgression’ as US denies alien links February 14, 2023 A former head of MI6 has warned of a “gross transgression” by the Chinese authorities in sending a spy balloon into US airspace and urged the UK to “wake up” to the threat posed. Sir Alex Younger, who ran the UK’s foreign intelligence service from 2014 to 2020, told the BBC on 14 February that [...]
Rail and postal strikes ‘decimated’ festive trade with worst impact for a decade February 14, 2023 London’s festive economy was “decimated” by rail and postal strikes, as new figures revealed the disruption caused by walkouts was the worst month on record since 2011. Around 843,000 working days were lost to strike action in December – the highest for more than a decade – according to official figures from the Office for [...]
London to face second-lowest rise in council tax among UK regions February 14, 2023 Cash-strapped Londoners are set for a slight boost as it emerged that the region is set to raise average council tax rates by the second-lowest amount in the UK. Of the councils who have declared their municipal tariffs for 2022-23, London boroughs collectively came in second from the bottom of the pile, at a 4.4 [...]
Sunak under pressure to increase defence spending amid NATO warnings February 13, 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure to increase the UK’s defence spending after NATO called for allies to boost ammunition production to support Ukraine. Tory backbenchers have issued stark warnings that Britain’s armed forces are “woefully ill-prepared” for a major conflict and that low defence spending is a “false economy”. It came as NATO [...]
Top Tory businessman quits for Labour over ‘f*** business’ attitude February 13, 2023 A top Tory businessman and LGBT+ champion has quit the Conservative party after almost two decades over the alleged ‘f*** business’ attitude and response to culture war issues. Iain Anderson, founder of PR firm Cicero and chairman of LGBT+ charity Stonewall, has abandoned his longstanding party membership and vowed to support Keir Starmer’s Labour Party [...]