United Kingdom

    Theresa May’s government faces becoming the first to suffer a defeat on its own budget bill in 40 years after Tory MPs including Jacob Rees-Mogg, Boris Johnson and David Davis joined a rebellion over fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs). More than 70 MPs from both sides of the House of Commons have signed two amendments that, if passed, would effectively force the government to bring forward the timing of the planned cut in FOBT maximum stakes to April 2019. Sport minister Tracey Crouch quit the government this month after the chancellor, Philip Hammond, revealed in the budget that the policy would not take effect until October 2019. She has joined dozens of party colleagues in putting her name to amendments that could force the Treasury to revert to the earlier da...

    Orpington is half an hour’s train ride from London and has all the characteristics of a suburban market town: independent shops, traditional English cafes and pubs. A little way down the road from its train station, a thatched house hosts the local Conservative Association. An enormous Jo Johnson banner is hoisted on the lawn outside, and his face stares down at drivers heading further south into Kent. Despite that, and the fact that it is less than 24 hours since this particular Johnson quit the government and worsened the Brexit crisis engulfing Theresa May, many of his constituents on the tree-lined high street don’t recognise his name. At Reku Zen, an Asian restaurant, Denislav Ivanov, 24, is mopping floors. He’s only heard of the other Tory MP called Johnson. ...

    More than £2.2 billion a year is being diverted from frontline NHS services to pay for clinical negligence claims, shocking new figures reveal. Despite repeated Government pledges to tackle the scandal, spending has doubled from £1.1 billion in 2013. The eye-watering figure enough to pay the salaries of 100,000 nurses means £1 in every £50 handed to the NHS is used to compensate harmed patients or settle lawyers’ legal fees.  In some cases, no win no fee law firms pocket more in legal fees than they secure in damages for their clients. Spending on NHS claims in England soared from £1.7 billion in 2016/17 to £2.2 billion in 2017/18. Damages accounted for £1.1 billion and £1.6 billion respectively. Payments to claimants’ lawyers shot up from £418 million in 2015/16...

    Commuters will be hit by one of the biggest Christmas and new year rail shutdowns, which is expected to partly cut off two of Britain’s busiest airports. Network Rail is reported to be planning 330 engineering projects between Christmas and new year, an increase of more than 30 per cent on last year. The works to upgrade the ageing system will affect services on major lines including the West Coast, Great Western, Great Eastern, the Midland Main Line and the main route into Merseyside. Network Rail has defended the works, saying the £148 million it is spending over the Christmas period will lead to a more reliable and efficient service for passengers. It added that Christmas was the best time to carry out the work because passenger numbers across the network were u...

    Boris Johnson accepted a £14,000 all-expenses-paid trip from the Saudi Arabian regime from shortly before journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed. The former foreign secretary visited Jeddah on September 19 for a three-day visit, according to The Sun. A source close to Johnson said the visit was made to discuss his long-standing campaign of improving education for women and girls. He has denounced the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and continues to believe that the UK must hold Saudi Arabia to account for this barbaric act the source added. A Turkish prosecutor today said Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul as part of a premeditated killing on October 2. A statement from chief Istanbul prosecutor Irfan Fidan’s office added that ...

    Uncertainty over Brexit has seen a huge surge in applications for Irish passports by Britons with family connections to the Republic. There were around 45,000 applications in the first half of 2018, almost the same as for the whole of 2015, the year before the EU referendum. The current rules state that an applicant is only entitled to an Irish passport if they are an Irish citizen. Irish citizenship can be acquired by birth or descent or through naturalisation. If you are the spouse or civil partner of an Irish citizen you can apply for citizenship through naturalisation if you meet certain conditions. Neale Richmond, chairman of the Brexit committee in the Irish senate said there had been a year-on-year increase in applications since the vote to leave the EU. At...

    Theresa May has dismissed claims that Monday’s Autumn Budget was an attempt to pave the way for an early general election. Speaking at a press conference in Olso, the Prime Minister said the government was not preparing for another general election, telling reporters: That would not be in the national interest. It comes after Chancellor Philip Hammond’s headline-winning budget sparked rumours that the Conservative Party was gearing up for the polls. As well as confirming the party’s promise to boost NHS spending by £20-billion-a-year, Hammond revealed tax cuts for 32 million workers and £1bn for Universal Credit over the next five years. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that the Tories usually do this. If a general election is comi...

    A Tory MP has suggested extra cash pumped into the welfare system by Philip Hammond will still not be enough to keep families out of poverty. South Cambridgeshire MP Heidi Allen also questioned whether the chancellor's extra spend on the government's flagship Universal Credit programme would ease criticism of the benefits shake-up. In his budget on Monday, Mr Hammond announced an extra £1bn over five years to help the roll out of Universal Credit, along with a £1,000 increase in the amount people can earn before losing benefits at a cost of £1.7bn per year. The chancellor told MPs he recognised their genuine concerns about the system but stressed: Universal Credit is here to stay, and we are putting in the funding it needs to make it a success. However, speaking i...

    A BBC Sport editor has been forced to issue an apology after he was caught on tape mocking a victim of the Leicester City helicopter tragedy. Dan Roan was filmed making offensive comments about the marriage of Foxes boss Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. Microphones picked up the broadcaster as he made the remarks to a producer while standing alongside the King Power memorial. Srivaddhanaprabha was one of five people on board the aircraft when it crash landed soon after taking off from the King Power Stadium. Footage of the off-air conversation appeared online and sparked outrage amongst football fans on social media. Roan later issued a grovelling apology on Twitter. He wrote: Just want to say sorry for some comments made in a private, off-air conversation earlier with ...

    A British woman has been charged with murdering her husband on the Malaysian holiday island of Langkawi, with her lawyer saying that the suspect felt overwhelmed. Samantha Jones 51 appeared in court on the island accused of killing John William Jones, who was found with a stab wound to the chest in their house earlier this month. A court official read out the charge of murder which is punishable with a mandatory sentence of death by hanging in Malaysia, and Jones indicated that she understood it but did not enter a plea because the magistrates court has no jurisdiction to hear the matter which is being transferred to the High Court. She is accused of committing the murder in the early hours of October 18. Jones's lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo said that the suspect felt v...