United Kingdom

    Theresa May faced a backlash from Tory MPs Monday over plans to pay up to £40billion in a Brexit divorce bill. A host of senior Conservatives blasted plans to stump up a ransom to Brussels after a crunch private meeting of her Brexit War Cabinet. Theresa May is said to be raising the offer to Brussels in a bid to close a deal Mrs May triggered mounting opposition to a hefty divorce bill, amid claims she is set to offer another £20billion on top of what she has already signalled she is willing to pay. Voters would go bananas if the UK forked out £40billion, warned former minister Robert Halfon. He told the BBC: If we start saying that we’re going to give £40 to £50 billion to the EU, I think the public will go bananas, absolutely spare. I voted Remain because I believe in a...

    Theirs was a love match. When the then Princess Elizabeth wed Philip Mountbatten 70 years ago today, no degree of formality, royal protocol or decorum could conceal that she did so for the most romantic of reasons. Their regard for one another is evident in those early photographs, her eyes gazing into his; two people on the threshold of a lifetime of service, during which their marriage would be tested like few others are. Yet despite the extraordinary nature of their existence, living out their years in the full glare of public scrutiny, their union has endured. And to tease out the secret to its success, we must look first to what brought the pair together: their love, an ever-fixed mark, that looks on tempests and is never shaken, as Shakespeare put it in Sonnet 116. I...

    The public will go bananas if the government agrees to pay the European Union a £40bn divorce bill, a senior Tory MP has warned. Robert Halfon, a former vice-chairman of the Conservative Party, said voters would not understand such a large sum of money being handed over to Brussels. The EU has demanded the UK agrees to settle its financial commitments before Brexit negotiations can move on to any future trade relationship. According to The Financial Times, May is prepared to increase her initial bid of £2bn to €38bn. However that sum is still short of the £53bn demanded by Brussels. Theresa May will meet with key Cabinet ministers who oversee Brexit talks on Monday morning to discuss the so-called ‘Brexit bill’. Halfon told BBC Radio 4′s Westminster Hour on Sunday evening:...

    More than a year after the UK government pledged to transfer hundreds of child refugees from Greece, the first unaccompanied minor from the country will arrive in London this week. However the 15-year-old Syrian is described by experts as profoundly traumatised because of the delay and has recently attempted to take his own life. Fourteen months have elapsed since the boy was first identified by the Home Office as especially vulnerable and eligible for immediate transfer. It has also emerged that Hammersmith and Fulham council in west London told the Home Office a year ago that it had a place for the teenager, but officials did not act on the offer a decision that charities say has caused irreversible damage to the child, who has lost contact with his family in Syria. Gian...

    The millionaire Tory Chancellor has claimed there are no unemployed people in a spectacular live TV gaffe. Philip Hammond made the car-crash comment, despite official figures showing 1.425million out of work, in the middle of his biggest interview ahead of this week's Budget which could make or break his career. His last Budget in the Spring was a shambles after he had to abandon tax hikes for a self-employed. And he is battling for his job after clashing with pro-Brexit Cabinet colleagues. Either we embrace change and we put ourselves at the forefront of it or we try to hide from change and we allow ourselves to slip behind. He added: I remember 20 years ago we were worrying about what was going to happen to the million shorthand typists in Britain as the personal compute...

    The UK is set to see snow fall this weekend as temperatures plunge, as one weather expert has predicted that Britain will experience its whitest winter in 27 years. Snow is expected to reach northern Scotland later this weekend, with temperatures expected to dip below 0 C, the Met Office told The Independent. Starting Sunday evening, when the rain starts to push in, snow will be falling above a few hundred metres, said forecaster Helen Roberts. But, Ms Roberts warned: The main risk is going to be into Monday, when we see a band of rain pushing in from the west and bumping up against cold air already in situ. That will be north of the Central Belt. What that means for Monday morning’s commute is that there could be a bit of disruption. The Met Office said residents of centr...

    Motoring campaigners have urged the Government to freeze fuel duty and avoid punishing the drivers of diesel vehicles in Wednesday’s Budget. There has been growing speculation that Chancellor Philip Hammond will increase taxes on new diesel cars following calls by environmentalists to take action to improve air quality. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Fair Fuel for UK Motorists and UK Hauliers and pressure group FairFuelUK have written to Prime Minister Theresa May and Mr Hammond calling on them to avoid such action. The letter claims that introducing a new purchase registration tax onto new diesels would be “a massive disincentive” for motorists to switch to modern, cleaner models. It went on to warn that raising duty on diesel fuel would cause a reduction in...

    An outstanding debt owed by the U.K. to Tehran will be transferred to the Central Bank of Iran in the coming days. The payment ... has nothing to do with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case, Hamid Baeedinejad wrote on his Telegram channel. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained in April 2016 in Tehran as she tried to leave Iran after a visit with her two-year-old daughter. She was sentenced to five years in prison after an Iranian court convicted her of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment. She denies the charges, and Britain has called for her release. Iran does not recognise dual citizenship for its nationals. Britain's debt to Iran dates from the 1970s, before the Islamic Revolution of 1979 toppled the U.S.-backed Shah. Iran paid up front for 1,750 Chieftain tanks and ...

    Meghan Markle may have dropped the biggest hint yet that she's preparing a permanent move to the UK to be with Prince Harry . The 36-year-old currently lives with her beloved pooches in Canada, where she films the legal drama. But she is believed to have started the process of relocating them to Britain, fuelling speculation she is set to move in with boyfriend Harry. The Sun quoted a source as saying: She misses [the dogs] when she is away and will even get someone to FaceTime her with them. The fact she’s started the process of moving them to England is the clearest hint yet that she sees her future living in London with Harry. Before a dog is brought to the UK, it must be microchipped, vaccinated against rabies and treated against tapeworm, the Sun reported. It comes as...

    Britain will be forced to accept a Canada-style post-Brexit trade deal with the EU that is vastly inferior to the current arrangement and which imposes new tariffs on imports and exports of food, a leaked document reveals. The memo from chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier will come as a blow to Theresa May and her Cabinet who have repeatedly spoken of their desire to construct a bespoke deal between the UK and the remaining 27 EU members once ties are cut. Ms May said in her Florence speech that replicating the Canada-EU deal would represent such a restriction on our mutual market access that it would benefit neither of our economies. But the document, said by Politico to have been provided to Mr Barnier’s for a preparatory discussion on the “framework for the future re...