United Kingdom

    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...

    British security agencies have secretly and unlawfully collected massive volumes of confidential personal data, including financial information, on citizens for more than a decade, top judges have ruled. The investigatory powers tribunal, which is the only court that hears complaints against MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, said the security services operated secret regimes to collect vast amounts of personal communications data, tracking individual phone and web use and large datasets of confidential personal information, without adequate safeguards or supervision for more than 10 years. The ruling said the regime governing the collection of bulk communications data (BCD) – the who, where, when and what of personal phone and web communications – failed to comply with article 8 protecti...

    The British Virgin Islands and Gibraltar emerge as key locations in the financial affairs of Arron Banks, who spent £7.5m funding Nigel Farage’s Leave.EU campaign group ahead of the Brexit referendum on 23 June. New details of Banks’s financial dealings are contained in the massive leaked database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca, which has revealed the myriad ways in which the rich can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes. Banks is a close friend of the Ukip leader, revealing last month that the two men went “skinny-dipping” in Bournemouth to celebrate Farage’s short-lived retirement from heading the party. Banks has also been at Farage’s side in America, where he has been supporting Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. The Panama Papers...

    International development secretary Priti Patel likens revealing UK’s negotiating position before EU talks to showing poker hand Priti Patel has said revealing Britain’s negotiation position during talks with European Union leaders over the country’s departure from the bloc would be akin to revealing her hand in a high-stakes game of poker. The international development secretary, who was a prominent leave campaigner and is said to be among the ministers on Theresa May’s Brexit committee, said a debate in the House of Commons over the terms of UK’s departure would give the game away to Brussels. “If I were to sit down and play poker with you this morning, I’m not going to show you my cards before we even start playing the game,” she told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show. Her commen...

    Police released this image of the pills Police have issued a warning over use of a type of ecstasy tablet after a sixteen-year-old girl died following a house party. It is believed the youngster was treated for a suspected overdose at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. The teenager was taken to the hospital from a house in Newtongrange and police have confirmed they are investigating the incident. Police say the investigation is at an early stage but have warned about two types of ecstasy tablets. The two tablets are known as Red Bugatti Veyron and Purple Ninja Turtle. Among the pills being warned about are 'Red Bugatti Veyron' Anyone who has taken these tablets is urged to seek immediate medical attention. Those in possession of the tablets should not take them, police say. A Pol...

    British PM Theresa May said the NHS should urgently focus on making efficiencies to fill the £22bn hole in its finances. System on brink of collapse but no new funding in autumn statement, despite leave campaigners £350m a week claim Theresa May is failing to understand the seriousness of the situation facing the NHS as winter approaches, the British Medical Association has said after it emerged the NHS would be promised no additional funding in the autumn statement. May dashed any hopes of a cash boost in next month’s economic announcement when she met Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, senior NHS sources have told the Guardian. Instead she told him that the NHS should urgently focus on making efficiencies to fill the £22bn hole in its finances, and not pu...

  A grandmother hopes to cash in on the new five pound note craze to pay for a dream Christmas for her family. Gail Meikle has put one of the plastic fivers up for sale online after spotting what she believes is a slight misprint in the banknote. The eBay auction ends at 10pm on Friday, and the 51-year-old catering worker has so far had one bid for the asking price of £1,699, the Liverpool Echo reported . Gail, from Bromborough Pool, Wirral, said she hoped it was a genuine buyer, and plans to put the money towards Christmas with her daughter Samantha, 25, and granddaughter Naomi, six. She said it would end 2016 on a high after being diagnosed with bowel cancer earlier this year. She said: “I didn’t expect to make any profit from one but a taxi driver was talking about how much they ...

    Millions of households were last night warned to brace themselves for soaring inflation triggered by the plunging pound. Sterling suffered another slump yesterday, tumbling 2.5 cents against the dollar to a new 31-year low of $1.21. It also fell over 0.5% to around 1.103 against the euro. Around 5% has been wiped off the pound in the past four days and a massive 18% since June’s bombshell Brexit vote. The fall is already hitting the average family through higher fuel prices and dearer holidays abroad. But experts say that is nothing compared to a wave of price rises on the way. Soaring import costs are set to lead to price hikes for everything from gas and electricity to food, clothes and toys. The Government’s preferred measure of inflation - the Consumer Prices Index - c...

    A Bill for a second independence referendum will be published by the Scottish Government within days, Nicola Sturgeon has announced. The First Minister said the move is necessary so Scots can reconsider the issue in light of the vote for Brexit and "to do so before the UK leaves the EU". She told delegates at the SNP conference in Glasgow that an Independence Referendum Bill is to be published for consultation by her Government next week. She also used her opening speech to send a firm message to UK Prime Minister Theresa May, telling her: "If you think for one single second that I'm not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotland's interests, then think again. "If you can't - or won't - allow us to protect our interests within the UK, then Scotland will have the...

    The pound has made back some ground against both the dollar and euro in volatile trading following its latest slide, on Tuesday, attributed to Brexit concerns. Sterling was trading just below $1.23 and €1.11 as investors reacted to the Government indicating it was prepared to offer MPs greater scrutiny of the process for leaving the European Union. Fears of a 'hard' Brexit have dominated the assault on the pound's value, which has tumbled 6% since Theresa May signalled the UK would be leaving the single market to allow full control over immigration. Sterling's rise of almost 2% on Wednesday followed a sag to $1.20 the previous day. In that session, the assault on the pound pushed money towards UK stocks instead, with the FTSE 100 reaching a record intraday high. Analysts h...