Author: Sumon Admin

    Priti Patel has been criticised for refusing to deny that that Home Office made plans to install a wave machine in the English Channel to deter migrants. The home secretary said in an interview with The Sunday Times that it would be remiss of us not to look at all the options in reference to reports the government was planning to build new detention centres to house migrants. When asked about reports earlier this week that she had asked Home Office officials to look into the possibility of a wave machine Patel told the newspaper: That’s operational tactics and, quite frankly, I’m not going to start discussing operational tactics. Several figures criticised the home secretary over the interview on Sunday morning, with former transport secretary Andrew Adonis questio...

    One in three working-age families in so-called “red wall” constituencies won by the Tories from Labour at the last election will be £1,000 a year worse off if government plans to cut universal credit benefit rates go ahead. The government is also focused on supporting people by helping them get into work. This includes launching the kickstart scheme, a £2bn fund to create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people. The potentially dramatic impact on low-income households’ in “left behind” former industrial areas in the north of England, Midlands, Northern Ireland and Wales is highlighted in an analysis by the Resolution Foundation thinktank. The hit would fall disproportionately on families in areas the government has promised to “level up...

    President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus early Friday 32 days before Election Day and while voters are already casting ballots. It’s a stunning reminder that the northwest gate of the White House, where senior staff, VIPs and journalists gain entry to the 18-acre complex, is one of metal bars and not medical masks or face shields. Campaign rallies, candidate debates and rope lines at airport pit-stops offer even fewer protections even for the most powerful person in the world. Nobody knows exactly what happens next. The President of the United States has contracted a disease that has killed more than 207,000 Americans and sickened some 7.3 million. It will undoubtedly add new chaos into an election season already in unc...

    The EU Commission has announced plans to take the UK to court over controversial plans to break international law. Ursula Von Der Leyen said that Brussels was beginning infringement actions against the UK over breaches of the good faith clauses of the the Withdrawal Agreement struck by Boris Johnson. But Mr Johnson has signalled he could tear up elements of that agreement relating to Northern Ireland in the UK Internal Market Bill, which cleared the Commons this week. Ministers have admitted that the plan would breach international law - sending shockwaves through the the UK's negotiations with Brussels. The European Union had called for the UK to withdraw the elements of the legislation by the end of September. But Mr Johnson failed to change tack in light of Ms...

    House prices rose in September at the fastest annual rate since the aftermath of the Brexit vote in 2016, according to the UK’s biggest building society, as buyers continued to take advantage of a benign market despite the coronavirus pandemic. The average UK house price rose by 5% in September compared with the same month last year, to £226,129 – a record high, Nationwide reported. The pandemic has shaken up the housing market, with the return of demand after the UK-wide lockdown and temporary cuts to stamp duty helping to sustain sales even as economists forecast a significant increase in unemployment over the coming quarter. Prices rose by 0.9% month on month in September after jumping by 2% in the previous month as housing market activity surged, Nationwide sai...

    Boris Johnson has apologised for muddling up his own coronavirus rules on social gatherings. The prime minister was questioned about the latest COVID-19 restrictions coming into force for northeast England from midnight on Wednesday. At first, he said people could meet indoors and outdoors in groups of six in areas where no additional coronavirus restrictions are in place. But speaking during a news conference in Exeter, he claimed: In the North East and other areas where extra tight measures have been brought in, you should follow the guidance of local authorities. It's six in a home or six in hospitality but as I understand it, not six outside. That is at odds with what residents have been told in Northumberland, Newcastle, North and South Tyneside, Gateshead, S...

    Brussels and the UK will press ahead with trade talks starting on Tuesday in Brussels even as both sides refuse to concede any ground over Boris Johnson’s plan to introduce new legislation which overrides his Brexit divorce treaty. Maros Sefcovic, the EU commissioner in charge of overseeing last year's withdrawal agreement, on Monday said Brussels would not be shy in legally pursuing the UK once an end of September deadline passes for the UK prime minister to rewrite his internal market bill. We maintain that the bill, if adopted in its current form, would constitute an extremely serious violation of the protocol, as an essential part of the withdrawal agreement, and of international law, Mr Sefcovic said after a meeting with the UK’s cabinet office minister Michael...

    More than 700,000 jobs would be at risk for EU companies exporting to Britain if the UK and Brussels fail to agree a trade deal this year, according to a leading German economic research institute. In total, including companies outside the EU that export to the UK, there would be 1m potential job losses in a no-deal Brexit scenario, according to an unpublished report by the Halle Institute for Economic Research seen by the Financial Times. The research backs up the findings of a London School of Economics report published last week, which said 40 per cent of agricultural and food products consumed by UK households were imported from the EU. The report, sponsored by Denmark's Arla Foods, predicted this would fall 63 per cent in a no-deal Brexit. Under a no-deal scen...

    Thousands of EU nationals could face problems accessing essential services because the government is refusing to issue physical proof of their right to live in the UK. The settlement scheme grants EU citizens the right to remain in the UK after Brexit. Unlike other foreign nationals, they are not provided with a biometric residency permit proving their status. Instead they have to access the Home Office’s online database each time they need to produce evidence of eligibility. The process, which requires applicants to have a smartphone and reliable internet access, is part of a government plan to phase out paper permits and make the entire immigration service digital. But it means those with settled status and service providers have to negotiate a sequence of login...