United Kingdom

    UK GDP grows 0.6% in the quarter after the June Brexit vote slightly ahead of the 0.5% analysts expected. The UK economy grew slightly faster than expected in the first three months following the European Union referendum, official figures released on Friday (23 December), showed. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Britain's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.6% on a quarterly basis in the three months to the end of September, slightly ahead of the 0.5% analysts expected. • Britain's public sector debt hits record high in November • Barclays sued by US for alleged fraud in sale of mortgage-backed securities • Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena's bailout could take up to three months Why advertise with us The figure was also marginally higher than t...

    A series of attempts to carry out lethal attacks on Christmas markets and shopping centres across Europe, including Britain, were foiled before the Berlin murders. The security operations, according to senior sources, were carried out in direct response to information about terrorist threats linked to Isis. In Britain, counter-terrorism officers stated that a significant plot inspired by Isis had been halted. The alleged targets, say security sources, were one or more shopping centres crowded in the run-up to Christmas. Four men in Derby, another one at Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire and a woman in London, aged between 22 and 36, were arrested ten days ago in connection with the alleged plot, with the recovery of material which could be used for making bombs. On Thursday...

    A Southern Rail train being transported on a lorry caused delays for motorists when it became stuck at a crossroads in south east London. The carriage became wedged as it tried to navigate a tight corner in Crystal Palace on Wednesday night and held up traffic for half an hour, eyewitness Luke Alexander said. The incident happened on the junction between Gipsy Hill, Westow Hill, Westow Street and Central Hill at around 8.20pm. Mr Alexander, who works at a bar opposite the junction, said he had gone outside after hearing a commotion. I think the truck taking it had taken the wrong route and it had completely jammed itself on top of the crossroads, he said. Everyone was finding it the most hilarious thing including the truck drivers themselves who were trying to negotiate it...

    Festive travel plans faced being thrown into chaos after Heathrow, Gatwick and London City Airport all experienced a raft of hold-ups due to the weather. A spokesman for Heathrow said some early-morning flights had been been pushed back and knock-on delays could take place throughout the day, adding that there have yet to be any cancellations. British Airways said on its official Twitter feed that it was aware of fog affecting flights at all three London airports and advised passengers to check their flight status online. A statement on its website added: Fog across parts of southern England is affecting some flights to and from London's airports today. For safety reasons, Air Traffic Control has to allow greater space between landing aircraft in fog or during periods of l...

    The large consultancy firm which fell out with Downing Street after a leaked memo it wrote suggested Theresa May has no Brexit plan, will now forgo what could be millions of pounds worth of Government contracts. Deloitte said it had "put forward a plan to heal wounds with Number 10, after last month’s leaked memo suggested Ms May’s cabinet was riven with splits and unable to come up with a negotiating strategy in time before Brexit talks begin. The firm will now undergo a six month moratorium on pitching for lucrative government work, A spokesman said: Deloitte regrets the publication of the two-page note, and has apologised for the unintended disruption it caused government. The note was for internal audiences and was not a Deloitte point of view. We have put forward a pl...

    Losing Scotland's place in the single market would be "potentially devastating" to the country's long-term prosperity, the First Minister has said. Nicola Sturgeon said that being part of the European Single Market is "vital for Scotland's future economic wellbeing" and warned against a hard Brexit. She was speaking ahead of the publication of the Scottish Government's paper, "Scotland's Place in Europe" in Edinburgh on Tuesday. The paper will propose that Britain should remain in the free trade bloc even though the UK has voted for Brexit. The document will also set out how Scotland could remain in the single market without the rest of the UK and propose a ''substantial transfer of new powers to Holyrood'' after the country leaves the European Union (EU). Ms Sturgeon said...

    Mass deportations of the estimated 2.9 million EU nationals living in the UK would be impractical and they should not be used as a bargaining chip in Brexit negotiations, the government is being warned. In a strongly-worded report published on Monday, parliament’s influential joint committee on human rights (JCHR) highlights the political uncertainty over the residential status of both EU citizens in the UK and the 1.2 million Britons believed to be living elsewhere within the European Union. The government must not use human rights as a bargaining chip, Harriet Harman MP, the former deputy Labour leader and chair of JCHR, said: The UK government could not deport the large numbers of EU nationals currently in the UK. In the unlikely and unwelcome event that the government ...

    Strikes that spell misery for hundreds of thousands of people this week are set to worsen as Royal Mail staff threaten new wildcat stoppages which could delay millions of Christmas cards and presents. A further 1,000 Royal Mail delivery staff could take unofficial industrial action as a separate five-day strike by 3,000 Crown post office workers starts on Monday, The Telegraph can reveal, at a time when the service is creaking under the weight of festive demand. It comes at the start of a week of strike chaos with conductors on rail network Southern set to stop trains south of London on Monday and Tuesday, and more stoppages by British Airways baggage handlers and cabin crew over the weekend frustrating many attempting to get home for Christmas. Pressure is growing on Ther...

    It has been more than seventy years since a ring of Cambridge spies infiltrated British intelligence so they could pass on crucial information to the Soviets. But it seems academics at the university are once again involved in whispers of espionage and double bluffs. This time, it is not a spy ring at the centre of intrigue but rather suggestions that Kremlin operatives may be targeting a seminar programme. The concerns emerged after a number of experts unexpectedly resigned from their positions at the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar (CIS), an academic forum on the Western spy world. The men, which include former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove, are said to have left amid concerns that the Kremlin is behind a newly-established intelligence journal, which provides funding to ...

    Counter terror officials are investigating whether a former bodyguard to the jailed hate preacher Anjem Choudary has appeared in a horrific Islamic State propaganda video, beheading a prisoner. Mohammed Reza Haque appears in the newly released video dressed in black and using a hunting knife to cut the head off a bound and kneeling captive, the Mail on Sunday reported. Haque was a close associate of Choudary, Britain’s most notorious hate preacher, who was jailed in September for five years and six months for drumming up support for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). Haque, from Bethnal Green, East London, was photographed and filmed in countless UK demonstrations with Choudary and acted as his bodyguard. The latest Isil video shows the execution of five men accu...