Day: October 18, 2016

    May allows cabinet ministers to express personal views after next week’s decision, signalling it is likely to favour third runway. Theresa May will allow ministers to express their opposition to airport expansion for a period of time after the decision is made next week, in the strongest signal yet that the government is preparing to back Heathrow’s bid to build a third runway. Analysis Heathrow third runway: what does the Tory cabinet think? Where Theresa May’s team stand on the proposed expansion of the west London airport The prime minister told colleagues at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that opponents of whatever decision was made would have a set period to speak frankly about their opposition. Downing Street would not confirm whether that meant ministers would have a ...

    Tory aide Sam Armstrong A Conservative aide has been arrested over an alleged rape in the Houses of Parliament. The 23-year-old was named in reports as Sam Armstrong, who is chief of staff to Tory MP Craig Mackinlay. It is alleged that he took a woman to the South Thanet MP’s office after a drinking session in a bar within the Palaces of Westminster in the early hours of Friday morning. A source told The Sun: “There were a group of Tory advisers and female guests drinking there all night. Some were very drunk indeed." The alleged incident is said to have happened after a group were drinking in a taxpayer-subsidised bar on the House of Lords’ terrace overlooking the River Thames. A spokesman for Mr Mackinlay told the Standard: “On Friday morning Mr Mackinlay was made aware ...

    The Home Office has no way of verifying the age of child refugees being brought to the UK, it has emerged amid concerns that adults are posing as minors to gain access to Britain. Fourteen teenagers on Monday arrived in the UK from Calais as a fast-track system was launched to transfer youngsters from the "Jungle" camp before it is demolished. The Home Office insisted it had verified the ages of all the refugees and that all of those who were brought to the UK were aged between 14 and 17. However, Conservative MPs warned that photographs of the refugees suggested that many of the group were older than 17. Home Office documents show that if a refugee does not have a birth certificate, a Home Office screening officer can certify them as a child based on their “physical appea...