UK Politics

Britain will purchase at least a dozen new F35A fighter jets, reintroducing a nuclear role for the Royal Air Force for the first time since the Cold War. The decision to purchase the jets marks a major ramping up of Britain’s nuclear capabilities in the face of escalating global instability and comes alongside the UK’s decision to join Nato’s dual-capable aircraft nuclear mission – an aircraft sharing agreement among Nato allies.Sir Keir Starmer will use a press conference at Wednesday’s Nato summit in the Hague to announce plans to purchase the aircraft, which can carry both nuclear and conventional weapons.The purchase – which has been hailed by ministers as the “biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation”.The Royal Air Force has not held a nuclear role since the UK retired its sovereign air-launched nuclear weapons following the end of the Cold War.Announcing the purchase of the jets, Sir Keir warned that Britain can “no longer take peace for granted” in an “era of radical uncertainty”. “Supporting 100 businesses across the country and more than 20,000 jobs, these F35 dual-capable aircraft will herald a new era for our world-leading Royal Air Force and deter hostile threats that threaten the UK and our allies.Britain will purchase at least a dozen new F35A fighter jets and join Nato’s dual capable aircraft nuclear mission More

The government has been branded “dangerously flat-footed” in its efforts to recover nearly £2 billion in estimated taxpayer losses from the Covid-19 bounce back loan scheme, a cross-party committee of MPs has warned.The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) criticised the lack of incentive for lenders to pursue the recovery of these funds, highlighting a significant gap in the scheme’s oversight.Introduced in the early days of the pandemic, the bounce back loan scheme was designed to provide rapid financial support to businesses grappling with forced closures and plummeting demand. It offered loans of up to £50,000 per business, made available swiftly to most UK firms by waiving standard credit and affordability checks.However, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) now estimates that total losses due to fraud within the scheme will reach at least £1.9 billion, a figure acknowledged to likely be higher as not all fraudulent cases have yet been identified. While approximately £130 million has been recovered so far, the DBT admits it cannot determine how much of this relates to loans taken out fraudulently.Chancellor Rishi Sunak introduced the Covid bounce back loan scheme during the Covid-19 pandemic More

Sir Keir Starmer has stubbornly vowed to press ahead with his controversial welfare reforms despite more than 100 of his own MPs gearing up to reject the plans.The defiant prime minister hit back at Labour rebels, warning that “those who care about a future welfare system” must support the legislation.But with question marks about whether he could survive a potential defeat the prime minister also insisted on Sky News that it is “not a confidence vote”.It came as a senior backbencher made it clear many rebels are looking for blood with Sir Keir sacking his chancellor Rachel Reeves and changing policy or facing a challenge to his leadership.The amendment is expected to be tabled by Labour MP Meg Hillier, chair of both the Treasury and Liaison committees, and signed by 12 additional Labour Party select committee chairs More

China’s attempts to spy, destabilize and disrupt Britain’s economy and democracy have grown, but Beijing is still a vital economic partner for the U.K., the government said Tuesday.Foreign Secretary David Lammy said “China’s power is an inescapable fact” and freezing relations with the world’s second biggest economy is “not an option.” He spoke to lawmakers as he outlined findings from the government’s “China audit.”“China is our third biggest trading partner, our universities’ second largest source of international students. China will continue to play a vital role in supporting the U.K.’s secure growth,” Lammy said.The Labour Party government pledged to conduct an in-depth examination of U.K.-China relations after it was elected almost a year ago, in an effort to balance the country’s economic interests and its security. Many details of the review will remain classified for security reasons, Lammy said.Its conclusions were summarized in a document outlining the U.K. government’s broader national security strategy. It said that “instances of China’s espionage, interference in our democracy and the undermining of our economic security have increased in recent years.”Yet the government resisted pressure from China hawks in Parliament to label China a threat on a par with Russia. The security review called it a “geostrategic challenge” but also an essential player in tackling major issues such as climate change, global health and economic stability.“We will seek a trade and investment relationship that supports secure and resilient growth, and boosts the U.K. economy,” the government said. “Yet there are several major areas, such as human rights and cybersecurity, where there are stark differences and where continued tension is likely.”Opposition Conservative Party foreign affairs spokeswoman Priti Patel said the government was showing “signs of naivety” about China. Another Conservative lawmaker, Harriet Cross, branded Beijing “at best unreliable and at worst hostile.”U.K.-China relations have chilled since the short-lived “golden era” announced by then-Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015, after a series of spying and cyberespionage allegations, Beijing’s crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, a former British colony, and China’s support for Russia in the Ukraine war.There was no immediate comment from China on the review.China was one of many challenges identified in a review that the government said marked “a hardening and a sharpening of our approach to national security” in an increasingly dangerous world.Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has pledged, along with other NATO members, to increase spending on security to 5% of gross domestic product by 2035. The total includes 3.5% on defense and 1.5% on broader security and resilience.The U.K. currently spends 2.3% of national income on defense and says that will rise to 2.6% by 2027. More

The UK must prepare for the possibility of a “wartime scenario” on home soil, a major new government review has warned.The National Security Strategy, published on Tuesday, has issued the grim warning as events in the Middle East and Russia’s war with Ukraine continue to add to international instability.It comes just 48 hours after Iran threatened to target UK bases following the US attack on its nuclear facilities, before a ceasefire was announced last night.The strategy also recommends that UK citizens undergo “national resilience exercises” in preparation for attacks at home.Starmer arrives at Amsterdam Schiphol airport ahead of attending the Nato summit at The Hague More

Sir Keir Starmer has left the door open for tax rises in order to pay for mammoth increases to defence spending, amid growing questions over how the UK will afford the £30bn pledge. On Tuesday, Britain joined its Nato allies in committing to spending 5 per cent of GDP on defence and related spending by 2035. But IFS director Paul Johnson warned that the planned increase in defence spending would cost more than £30bn – a sum that he said could only come from tax increases, “because in the end there’s nowhere else it can come from”.Starmer arrives for the Nato summit More

Labour’s controversial welfare cuts face a significant hurdle at a crunch Commons vote on Monday as more than 100 Labour MPs form a rebellion against the plans.An amendment signed by these 108 rebels would essentially halt the reforms if passed, as it would prevent the government’s bill from progressing any further through Parliament.The episode marks a major challenge to Sir Keir Starmer’s government. Should all of the rebels stand by the amendment – alongside MPs from other parties – then they would hold a majority of 29.This would be more than enough to secure an embarrassing and uncommon defeat for the Labour government.Entitled the ‘Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill’, the government’s proposed legislation would see the eligibility and/or payment rates of both of these benefits sharply cut back for disabled claimants.The changes put forward by the group of Labour rebels would not halt these plans forever, but essentially lists several issues that mean the signatories cannot abide by the changes as things stand.Speaker of the House Lindsay Hoyle would need to select this amendment for it to be voted on, but with the amount of support it is unlikely that he would not. If this were to happen, MPs would still be required to vote on the main bill anyway, keeping the door open for a potential rebellion.Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has refused to declare how she will ask the party’s MPs to vote on either the amendment or the bill. Rebel Labour MPs would likely need the support of most of these members for the amendment to pass.Five key reasons are listed in the amendment, including the lack of a formal consultation with disabled people, and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) analysis that the plans would push 250,000 into poverty, including 50,000 children.Also listed as a key issue is that the OBR is not due to publish its employment impact of the reforms essentially an analysis of how many people they would support into work, until autumn – months after MPs are expected to vote on them.However, the text of the amendment does also begin by “noting the need for the reform of the social security system,” as well as “agreeing with the government’s principles for providing support to people into work and protecting people who cannot work.”The amendment has been signed by 11 Commons committee chairs, including Dame Meg Hillier (Treasury select committee) and Debbie Abrahams (Work and Pensions select committee). Confirming her decision to sign the amendment on Bluesky, Ms Abrahams said: “I’ve signed this as I believe there are alternative ways we can achieve the Government’s goals of increasing employment while reducing sickness and disability cases, therefore reducing overall disability benefits spending.”“This can be achieved through improvements in the Labour market, along side increases in NHS and employment support. Not by impoverishing disabled people and their families further from next April by cutting their benefits before all these measures are in place.” More

Trans women visiting parliament will be barred from using women’s toilets under new guidance, The Independent can reveal. Until now visitors to the estate could use toilets most appropriate for their gender, but new guidance advises them to use toilets based on their biological sex, or gender-neutral facilities – prompting accusations of a “knee-jerk response”. It comes after barrister Robin Moira White, a trans woman, faced complaints from gender critical campaigners for using the women’s facilities while attending a meeting in parliament last week. Following the Supreme Court’s April ruling, which said that the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission issued draft guidance on a range of topics, including trans people’s participation in sport and use of toilets.It was previously understood the Commons was waiting for the publication of the EHRC’s full guidance before updating their policy. However, the same rule had already been introduced into the Scottish Parliament.The House of Commons has changed its policy for bathroom use in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling More