United Kingdom

    The DUP's leader at Westminster says those who hold different views on social issues like gay marriage and abortion have no reason to fear the Northern party's influence there. Nigel Dodds MP, who has been negotiating a confidence and supply agreement with Downing Street, told Sky News he and colleagues had been misrepresented as dinosaurs. He said: People can always go back through the archives of any political party and find individuals saying things or policies from 20, 30 years ago. But they need to read our manifesto and look at the recent years in Northern Ireland where the DUP has been the main partner in government with republicans to move this province forward. In his most famous speech, the Rev Ian Paisley, who founded the DUP, thundered that there would never, n...

    A Car has ploughed into a group of Muslim worshippers in Newcastle as they celebrated Eid, leaving at least three adults and three children injured. The crash happened in the car park of Westgate Community College, in Westgate Road. Six people are now confirmed to have been injured, including three children. One of the children is said ot be in a critical condition. There are uncomfrimed reports that one child was stuck beneath the car. An estimated 300 to 400 Muslim worshippers were at the college celebrating the end of Ramadan. Armed police and the police helicopter were called to the scene, with the recent terror attack on a group of Muslim in Finsbury Park still fresh in people's minds. However, police have said they do not believe the crash is terror related, Chronicl...

    Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks to delegates at the Unison Conference on June 23, 2017 in Brighton, England. A plan by Jeremy Corbyn to pay 16-year-olds a "living wage" of £10 an hour could prevent young people from getting onto the jobs ladder and lead to companies employing fewer workers, business groups have warned. The British Chambers of Commerce said that hiking the wage paid to teenagers could price them out of the workplace. The Adam Smith Institute, a free market think-tank, warned that the move could lead to businesses opting for older workers rather than younger, riskier hires, adding that it could also drive up the costs of groceries as supermarkets face higher wage bills. The warnings came after Mr Corbyn told a union conference that Labour's manifesto poli...

    Strategies to amend future legislation including a key immigration bill to force ministers to listen to business groups and to show the EU that Parliament wants a softer exit are being drawn up, The Independent has learned. One Conservative MP said the aim was to give confidence to bullied ministers who are reluctant to speak out, despite sharing the view that the Prime Minister’s plans put Britain on the road to disaster. Another MP outlined the importance of convincing Brussels that Parliament can coordinate to present a different, more EU-friendly policy to that of the Government. It would really show how power has shifted if Parliament can coordinate itself and that’s not impossible, the MP said. We are talking to each other and will continue to talk to each other this...

    The Queen was reported to police for not wearing a seatbelt as she travelled to the State Opening of Parliament in her official call. West Yorkshire Police said they received a 999 call about the royal journey. But the force said the caller also thought it was a good idea to ring their local police force, as the Queen was travelled with Prince Charles through London from Buckingham Palace to Westminster. Confirming the call in a tweet, it also pointed out that the call was not an emergency and should not have been made to 999. "999 call received reporting that the Queen isn't wearing a seatbelt. #not999 #notevenwestyorkshire," the tweet read. Under UK law, civil and criminal proceedings cannot be taken against the Queen. Her press office said it would not comment on the tw...

    Theresa May made a fair and serious offer to European Union leaders over the contentious issue of the future rights of EU citizens, offering those who arrive lawfully before Brexit the chance to build up the same rights to work, healthcare and benefits as UK citizens. Speaking at the end of a dinner at an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, after formal Brexit talks kicked off on Monday, May set out the UK’s opening offer on the rights of EU citizens – an issue both sides have said they would like to be resolved early in the talks. The prime minister told them the UK was willing to agree to a “cutoff point” between 29 March this year, when May formally triggered article 50, and the later date of March 2019 as preferred by the European commission. Related video: May's Brexi...

    Councils in England estimate that 600 high-rise buildings have similar flammable exterior cladding to that used on the Grenfell Tower, the government has said. Tests following the disaster had found that a number of other tower blocks have flammable exterior cladding, Theresa May had told the Commons, saying urgent steps were being taken to make them safe. Making a statement to the Commons about the fire last week in which it least 79 people died, the prime minister said the test results arrived immediately before she spoke, and that MPs for the relevant areas would be contacted swiftly. The communities secretary, Sajid Javid, would give more details later, she said. Following the Grenfell Tower fire, which appeared to spread rapidly because the cladding fitted during a re...

    DUP broke off talks with Tories for 36 hours this week as they demand £2billion for Northern Ireland. The Democratic Unionist Party broke off talks with Theresa May this week as it told her to spend £2billion in Northern Ireland if she wants the party to prop up her minority Conservative Government. The DUP demanded the cash which works out as £1,100 per person in the Province - as talks veered dangerously close to breaking down altogether. The talks became so strained in the past few days that the DUP negotiators in Belfast refused to pick up the phone to the Prime Minister’s team for 36 hours, The Daily Telegraph can disclose Westminster sources said they now hoped a confidence and supply deal could be agreed next week, days before Thursday’s key vote on the Queen’s Spee...

    Islamophobic attacks soared more than 500% in Greater Manchester after the suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert last month, police have said. There were 224 reports of anti-Muslim hate crimes in the month after the attack compared with 37 in the same period in 2016, official figures show. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) revealed the 505% rise in Islamophobic incidents as officers said they would take tough action to curb the increase in hate-fuelled incidents. The figures came as police across Britain increased protection for Muslim communities after the Finsbury Park mosque attack in the early hours of Monday. Rob Potts, assistant chief constable of GMP, said hate crime in the region had returned to normal levels in recent days – but warned that the true number of ...

    Theresa May’s director of policy involved in drawing up the Conservative election manifesto has left his post, leaving Ms May without another of her key aides. Ms May had brought John Godfrey in as head of the influential policy unit in July 2016, but Downing Street sources confirmed to The Independent that he has gone. It comes amid the fallout of the botched election campaign with the Prime Minister already having lost her two chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill in an exodus of her top team. Sources close to Number 10 have said that despite cabinet ministers demanding Ms May cut her aides loose, the Prime Minister has stayed in communication with Ms Hill. Mr Godfrey’s departure after less than a year, follows that of his deputy Will Tanner who left his position ...