UK Politics

Efforts by the world’s biggest democracies to toughen sanctions against Russia and hold a joint position on the Middle East crisis look set to be thrown into chaos by Donald Trump.The US President, who landed in Alberta, Canada late on Sunday night, opened off his remarks at the G7 summit by suggesting it had been a “mistake” to boot Russia out of the former G8.It had already been reported by CBS News that Trump does not intend to sign a G7 statement related to Israel and Iran, citing unnamed U.S. officials.President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney on the sidelines of the G7 Summit, Monday, June 16, 2025, in Kananaskis, Canada. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) More

Keir Starmer has handed councils the bill for paying for the black hole in UK finances amid warnings of the biggest rises in local taxation in two decades.The prime minister told journalists on a trip to the G7 summit in Canada that it is up to councils if they want to charge the full 5 per cent increase amid concerns that he has unleashed a series of massive tax rises.As a result of last week’s spending review councils can increase the council tax by up to 5 per cent while the police have also been given the powers to use a similar rise in their precept to raise extra funds. The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has already warned of the biggest rise in council tax for two decades.Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer More

Summits are usually very formal, almost scripted events where leaders of the world’s biggest democracies meet to discuss all the issues their officials have already negotiated before. But on the odd occasion humanity breaks out from the robotic formal proceedings.Such a moment came as Keir Starmer – a man normally famed for his aversion to the spontaneous – came out of an apparently agreeable bilateral meeting with the Italian PM Giorgia Meloni.Across the hotel lobby he spotted German chancellor Friedrich Merz and the two immediately were drawn to one another and sat down to have a chinwag off the books. Soon Ms Meloni had joined them followed by the host Canadian PM Mark Carney and French President Emmanuel Macron.After the initial water, glasses of wine arrived.World leaders having a glass at the G7 More

Keir Starmer has insisted that the Home Office will not be buying up hotels and changing their use to “accommodation centres” in a bid to ensure he keeps his pledge to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029.Speaking to journalists accompanying him to the G7 in Canada, Sir Keir insisted that there would be no attempt to “massage the figures” on the pledge to stop using taxpayer-funded hotels to house asylum seekers.The issue was raised after the promise to stop paying for hotels was made in the spending review by chancellor Rachel Reeves.Starmer was hoping to hold discussions with Macron and Merz at the G7 on migration More

Jonathan Reynolds has been warned he faces prosecution if he repeats previous false claims that he worked as a solicitor. The business secretary has been told by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) that he could be prosecuted if he claims again to have been a solicitor, despite never qualifying. It came after the watchdog closed an investigation into the false claims made by Mr Reynolds, deciding it “did not consider it proportionate or in the public interest to bring criminal proceedings”. Jonathan Reynolds has been warned he could be prosecuted if he claims to be a solicitor in future More

The first woman appointed to the role of “C” as head of the Secret Intelligence Service will be taking over when two of Britain’s most important relationships in espionage are strained to breaking point. And she’ll be leading a technological race the UK cannot afford to lose.Blaise Metreweli, 47, a Cambridge University graduate of social anthropology, has been running department Q in MI6. Her appointment to the top job where, she will be expected to write only in the traditional green ink of the chief, will involve steering its use of radical new technology.As Q, the title adopted by MI6 in homage to the fictional Q in James Bond movies, she presided over the development of gadgets, secret communications, bugs, weapons and disguises. But also Artificial Intelligence and the wider digital race for dominance.Blaise Metreweli, 47, a Cambridge University graduate of social anthropology, has been running department Q in MI6 More

Downing Street has warned that institutions and councils which failed girls in the grooming gangs scandal will “not be able to hide” from a new inquiry, ordered after a U-turn by Keir Starmer. No 10 said the probe would look at how young girls “were failed so badly” by different agencies. The prime minister’s official spokesperson added that local authorities and institutions who fail to act to protect young people will “not be able to hide and will finally be held to account for their actions”. Earlier the former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission said Labour ministers “owe an apology” to everyone they dismissed over grooming gangs. Keir Starmer announced the inquiry on his way to the G7 in Canada More

Sir Keir Starmer has appointed the first ever female head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, MI6.Blaise Metreweli, the current head of technology and innovation at MI6, is being promoted to its 18th chief and the first woman to hold the role as the UK faces growing threats from foreign adversaries. The head of MI6 is commonly referred to as C and is the only publicly named member of the organisation. Ms Metreweli, a veteran of the organisation and its domestic counterpart MI5, was awarded a CMG for services to British Foreign Policy last year. ( More