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Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton has been chosen to be the next head of all three armed forces, The Independent understands.Sir Keir Starmer is understood to have picked the head of the RAF to lead the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as chief of the defence staff from this autumn.The appointment has not yet been officially announced, although it is expected to be confirmed soon, amid what has been billed as the most transformative period for the MoD in decades. It comes a day after the prime minister vowed to make Britain “a battle-ready, armour-clad nation” as he unveiled his strategic defence review (SDR), which included an army boosted to 100,000 personnel, 12 new submarines, drones and a rollout of Artificial Intelligence.Sir Richard, 56, is a career engineer who has been described as a “defence bureaucrat” as well as the “money guy” due to his ability to handle finances, with previous experience controlling the RAF’s budget. He is known as a safe pair of hands and has also rolled out personnel reform in the service.Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer (left) speaks with Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton (second right) last month More

Watch live as Sir Keir Starmer launches the landmark Strategic Defence Review in Glasgow, unveiling new measures as the country moves to “warfighting readiness”.The prime minister will announce that the UK plans to build up to 12 new attack submarines which will replace the current fleet from the late 2030s onwards, during his speech on Monday (2 June).He is also expected to confirm that £15billion will be spent on its nuclear warhead programme.The review, led by former Labour defence secretary Lord Roberston, will make an 60 additional recommendations, which the Labour government is expected to agree to in full.Speaking on BBC’s Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday (2 June), Sir Keir could not rule out the possibility of sending forces to Nato’s eastern border.Asked by Nick Robinson if British troops could be sent “risk their lives” and “possibly die”, the prime minister said he “hopes not”, though stressed the only way to stop this was to “prepare”.On Sunday (1 June), German’s chief of Defence, General Carsten Breuer, told the broadcaster that Russia would attack again within the next four years.Sir Keir also said earlier that while he wants to reach spending of 3% of GDP on defence, he would not “indulge in the fantasy politics of simply plucking dates from the air”. More

Britain will build up to 12 new nuclear-powered submarines, Sir Keir Starmer will announce as he unveils his much-anticipated defence review. In a bid to “ensure the UK rises to the challenge” of growing global security threats, the prime minister will say that the 130-page review is a “radical blueprint” signalling a “wave of investments” into military infrastructure and weaponry. An extra £15bn will be spent on new nuclear warheads for the UK’s nuclear deterrent.Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and defence secretary John Healey visit a Vanguard-class submarine off the coast of Scotland More

Britain will build up to 12 new nuclear-powered submarines, Sir Keir Starmer will announce as he unveils his much-anticipated defence review. In a bid to “ensure the UK rises to the challenge” of growing global security threats, the prime minister will say that the 130-page review is a “radical blueprint” signalling a “wave of investments” into military infrastructure and weaponry. An extra £15bn will be spent on new nuclear warheads for the UK’s nuclear deterrent.Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and defence secretary John Healey visit a Vanguard-class submarine off the coast of Scotland More

Demand for help from baby banks from parents struggling to feed their children has surged by more than one-third in a year, The Independent can reveal, amid record-high levels of child poverty.As the cost of living continues to rise, a growing number of families are having to turn to baby banks, with new data showing that more than 3.5 million essential items were handed out in 2024, including nappies, clothes and cots – an increase of 143 per cent on the previous year.Describing the rising need as “absolutely shocking”, actor and podcast host Giovanna Fletcher questioned how this is happening in the UK as she joined forces with MPs and children’s charities to urge the government to take action.The new figures come after Labour delayed until autumn its flagship plan to cut child poverty, although it insists its strategy is “ambitious”. Meanwhile, ministers are debating whether or not to scrap the two-child benefit cap as the cost of living crisis continues to bite, and statutory maternity pay remains equivalent to less than half of the 2025 national living wage. Parents including Adam Coggins (left) and Kirsty-Louise Fulford (right) speak with Giovanna Fletcher (second from right) at Bicester Baby Bank More

Almost one in 20 Tubepassengers are dodging fares – at a cost of £130m a year – amid a surge in violence against the staff who try to stop them. Almost 5 per cent of fares now go unpaid, new Transport for London (TFL) figures show, pushing up prices when many Londoners are already feeling the pinch of the cost of living crisis. It comes as shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick took to the London Underground himself to catch fare dodgers on camera. He said: “It’s annoying watching so many people break the law and get away with it.”A video posted on X (Twitter) showed him questioning passengers who barged past barriers without paying for a ticket. He was met with verbal abuse and one warning from a man who claimed he was carrying a knife. Many of those stopped for fare evasion are already wanted for other crimes, with knives and drugs seized when suspects are stopped and searched. Now, as part of a new clampdown, TfL has drafted in 500 enforcement officers to try to reduce the number of Tube travellers who are not paying, but many are subjected to violent and racial abuse. Almost 10,500 reports of work-related violence and aggression were made by TfL staff in 2023/24 – a 5 per cent increase on the previous year. About half of these incidents were linked to fare dodgers. Just under 5 per cent of people using the underground did not pay over the past year More

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage will commit to restoring the winter fuel payments to all pensioners and scrapping the two-child benefit cap, according to reports.Farage is expected to appeal to more left-wing voters in a speech next week, according to the Sunday Telegraph.The newspaper said the Reform leader would call prime minister Sir Keir Starmer “one of the most unpatriotic prime ministers in our history and this past week has been evidence of that”, in reference to Reform’s success in recent local elections.The political party is riding high in the opinion polls after its victories in town halls and the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, according to YouGov.The latest opinion polling revealed Reform UK is the most popular party among voters at 29 per cent, followed by Labour on 22 per cent and Liberal Democrats at 17 per cent. The Conservatives are in fourth place at 16 per cent.The Clacton MP spent last week on holiday while the House of Commons was sitting. While MPs have left Westminster for recess, he is expected to return to the political arena and say: “The prime minister is out of touch with working people, he doesn’t understand what they want and how they feel about the big issues facing Britain.“It’s going to be these very same working people that will vote Reform at the next election and kick Labour out of government.”A source told the newspaper: “We’re against the two-child cap and we’d go further on winter fuel by bringing the payment back for everyone.“That’s already outflanking Labour.”This comes as Sir Keir has signalled a desire to restore the winter fuel payment to more pensioners in Prime Minister’s Questions.The payment was previously made to all pensioners, but Labour reduced it to only those receiving pension credit in one of its early acts in government.it is understood that the Goverment’s action plan to tackle child poverty – a document likely to contain proposals to scrap the two-child benefit cap – has been delayed until the autumn. The plan is likely to be aligned with the budget so it can be fully costed.New costings released recently by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) show another 109 more children are pulled into poverty by the policy every day.The number affected will continue to increase until 2035 – when the first children born under the turn 18.The charity says that scrapping the cap would be the most cost-effective way to lift kids out of poverty. More

Severe staff shortages mean the beleaguered probation service cannot safely monitor prisoners in the community under new plans to free up prison spaces, senior figures have warned. In a review ordered by justice secretary Shabana Mahmood as the prison crisis boiled over during her first days in office, her Tory predecessor, David Gauke, recommended freeing many prisoners a third of the way into their sentence and telling judges to avoid jailing people for less than a year in favour of community sentences.While the plans have been widely welcomed, concerns have been raised over how the under-pressure probation service will cope with an influx of new offenders to manage. Ms Mahmood is expected to accept most of the proposals, but former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland expressed concern that the plans could merely “transfer a prison-based problem into the community”.And probation union Napo warned that there was now a “vital window” to invest in staff and their wellbeing before the changes place “massive, massive pressure” on a service already in “chaos”.Hailing the report as “the most important review of sentencing policy in at least a generation”, Napo chief Ian Lawrence added: “But the problem the government has right now is, if prisons are full, so is the probation service.“And our capacity to process even more people released into the community is going to be put under massive, massive pressure … without something being done to maintain the confidence of staff. That means paying people so they don’t just leave, because people [have had] enough of the current workload situation.”The most recent official figures suggest a shortfall of nearly 1,500 probation officers below the recommended staffing level of 7,115. Mr Lawrence warned that this target may underestimate the true need. Ministers have vowed to recruit a further 1,300 officers by March 2026 and while the probation service grew by 610 staff in the year to March, more than 2,000 staff – nearly 10 per cent – left over the same period. Forty per cent of probation officers who quit left with at least 10 years of experience, analysis by The Independent found.Asked whether he believes the probation service has enough staff to safely enact the reforms, Mr Lawrence said: “Certainly not now.”Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood ordered the sentencing review during her first days in office More