Markus Andrews

A senior minister from one of the UK’s Nato allies has publicly voiced opposition to efforts by Sir Keir Starmer’s “coalition of the willing” to guarantee peace in Ukraine if US president Donald Trump can broker a deal.Hungary’s state secretary Zoltán Kovács, the mouthpiece of right-wing prime minister Viktor Orban, suggested on a trip to London that Western troops in Ukraine could be an extension of a “proxy war” against Russia.He added that Hungary, seen as being close to Russia, would play no part in joint EU efforts.“It’s certain that Hungary’s position is very firm on this,” he said. “Hungary is not going to participate in any kind of supply of weapons, military cooperation with Ukraine, because we have a different mandate coming from the Hungarian people.”Sir Keir has been carrying out lengthy negotiations to get a peacekeeping force made up from several countries – dubbed “the coalition of the willing” – stationed in Ukraine to guarantee any agreement to end the war that may emerge. Starmer and Orban are on a collision course over Ukraine More

Sir Keir Starmer faces one of the biggest days of his premiership on Monday, unveiling his plans for Britain’s post-Brexit reset deal towards closer ties with the EU. The prime minister has been determined to rebuild ties with the bloc after years of tension and mistrust under the Conservatives. He has made the reset a centrepiece of his administration, but has been keen to stress that its scope will be limited while the Brexit vote will be respected. So when European Commission president Ursula Von Der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa arrive in the UK, he will be keen to show progress has been made. Sir Keir Starmer is resetting Britain’s relationship with the EU More

European Union regulators accused TikTok on Thursday of breaching digital safety rules because of shortcomings in the video sharing app’s online ad database. TikTok’s ad repository isn’t up to the standards required by the bloc’s Digital Services Act, known as the DSA, the 27-nation EU’s executive Commission said in preliminary findings from its investigation. The Commission said ad databases are vital for researchers to detect scam ads as well as so-called hybrid threat campaigns, coordinated information operations and fake ads, “including in the context of elections.”The DSA is a wide-ranging rulebook that aims to clean up social media platforms and protect users from risks including election-related disinformation. Provisions include requiring platforms to be transparent about digital ads, including informing users why they’re being shown a specific advertisement and who paid for it.The Commission said TikTok doesn’t provide necessary information about the content of ads, the users targeted, and who pays for them. The database doesn’t allow for a comprehensive search for ads based on this information, “thereby limiting the usefulness of the tool,” it said.TikTok did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The shortcomings in TikTok’s ad database prevent a “full inspection” of the risks posed by its ad targeting systems, said Henna Virkkunen, the commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy. “Transparency in online advertising — who pays and how audiences are targeted — is essential to safeguarding the public interest,” Virkkunen said. “Whether we are defending the integrity of our democratic elections, protecting public health, or protecting consumers from scam ads, citizens have a right to know who is behind the messages they see.”TikTok now has a chance to reply before the Commission issues its final decision, which could result in a fine of up to 6% of the company’s annual global revenue. TikTok is being scrutinized in a separate EU investigation into whether it failed to deal with risks to Romania’s presidential election, which was thrown into turmoil last year over allegations of electoral violations and Russian meddling. More

A former economic adviser to Sir Keir Starmer has warned the prime minister and his chancellor Rachel Reeves have no choice but to raise taxes. In an astonishing criticism, Nick Williams, who left Number 10 last month, said Labour’s current public spending plans were “not credible” and would have to be reconsidered. “The bottom line is that taxes will have to go up,” he added. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer signalled his support for the assisted dying Bill has not changed (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA) More

With MPs due to cast their final votes this Friday, the assisted dying bill – spearheaded by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater – has been reshaped in ways that continue to sharply divide opinion. The headline change has removed the requirement for a High Court judge to approve every assisted‑dying request. In its place, Ms Leadbeater has proposed a Voluntary Assisted Dying Commission, chaired by a senior judge (or former judge) and supported by consultant psychiatrists and social workers. Supporters have argued that what Ms Leaderbeater calls a “Judge Plus” model will speed up decisions and add specialist expertise, while retaining a judicial anchor.Critics – including Diane Abbott and former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron – have warned that stripping out full High Court oversight makes the safeguards too weak and could endanger vulnerable people. Other amendments will require the doctors assessing assisted dying requests to have detailed training on domestic abuse, including coercive control and financial abuse, and reasonable adjustments and safeguards for autistic people and people with learning disabilities.With just 28 MPs needed to defeat it, many who supported the bill at earlier stages – citing the High Court safeguard – may now withdraw. Several MPs who previously abstained have also decided to vote against it, among them Lee Anderson and his former Reform UK colleague Rupert Lowe, who have publicly stated they will change their vote.Come Friday, Parliament must decide: does Leadbeater’s revised framework protect patients sufficiently, or has it sacrificed essential safeguards for the sake of expediency?We want to hear from you. Share your thoughts on the assisted dying bill in the comments and vote in the poll below – we’ll feature the most compelling responses and discuss the results in the coming days.All you have to do is sign up and register your details – then you can take part in the debate. You can also sign up by clicking ‘log in’ on the top right-hand corner of the screen. More

Britain could reduce the number of people making perilous journeys across the Channel by allowing migrants to apply for asylum from management centres in France, a think tank has proposed. New centres set up outside Calais could allow people to apply for UK asylum or to be reunited with family in Britain. The number of asylum seekers granted sanctuary to the UK would be on a rolling monthly cap, a new report from the Future Governance Forum (FGF) think tank has said, and in return France would take back the equivalent number of migrants who have arrived on UK shores in small boats. The proposals mirror policies enacted by the Biden administration in the US, which allowed people on the Southern border to access pre-arrival processing. Offices were set up in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador to allow migrants to apply to resettle in the US through legal pathways, including by pursuing refugee status. The programme aimed to decrease the number of people making the dangerous crossings at the US-Mexico border. The UK is already in discussions with France on a scheme to return migrants who have crossed the Channel in small boats. In return, UK government officials have reportedly floated the idea of accepting migrants seeking reunion with family members already in Britain. The French interior ministry said in April that the pilot scheme would be based on a “one-for-one principle”. This would mean that “for each legal admission under family reunification, there would be a corresponding readmission of undocumented migrants who managed to cross [the Channel]”. An inflatable dinghy carrying around 65 migrants crosses the English Channel on March 06, 2024 in the English Channel. More

Failing NHS bosses who fail to cut waiting times face having their pay docked by £15,000 under a drive to boost performance in the under-pressure health service. Wes Streeting is outlining plans to freeze or dock the pay of bosses in beleaguered NHS trusts, while offering bonuses of up to 10 per cent for those who improve services. The health secretary said the “carrot and stick reforms will boost productivity, tackle underperformance and drive-up standards for patients”. Wes Streeting said the ‘carrot and stick’ approach would drive up standards More

Fears have been raised that Brexit has left British consumers more exposed to food that can give them cancer because the UK has failed to keep up with EU standards since leaving the bloc.Hopes are high that if Keir Starmer agrees to align the UK to EU rules and regulations in his Brexit reset deal to be unveiled on Monday, then the exposure to carcinogenic nitrites in bacon and ham can be removed.But the concerns are reflected in a new J.L Partners poll that not only revealed more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of Brits fear the UK is falling behind European food standards but the worries are shared by even 55 per cent of pro-Brexit 2024 Reform voters.Stricter EU rules limiting the amount of nitrites permitted in bacon and ham come into force in October – but the UK is currently permitting higher levels of the carcinogenic chemicals in its processed meat.Bacon has nitrates (PA) More