UK

Michael Gove has branded concerns made by Angela Rayner about a repeat of last year’s summer of violence as “a big mistake”, claiming it could “tacitly encourage” riots.The former Tory cabinet minister, who was Ms Rayner’s predecessor as the secretary of state responsible for communities, added that history showed warning violence could break out made it inevitable. His comments follow a no holds barred briefing the deputy prime minister gave to cabinet colleagues on Tuesday, where she linked economic woes and immigration to community tensions and said the government needed to acknowledge the public’s “real concerns” about societal changes, as well as falling living standards.She was speaking following violent scenes in Epping, Essex where protesters have clashed near the Bell Hotel which is believed to contain asylum seekers.Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner (PA) More

The UK faces a “very significant” volume of cyber attacks every year, the security minister has warned as new laws aim to deter hackers from “extorting” businesses amid a spate of recent incidents.Dan Jarvis said new measures send a signal to cyber criminals that ransom demands will not be tolerated.Proposals from the Home Office would ban public sector bodies and operators of critical national infrastructure from paying hackers.It would also mean private sector companies not covered by the ban would be required to notify the Government if they intended to pay a ransom.“The UK is not alone in this regard, along with our international allies, we are subjected to a very significant number of cyber attacks every year,” Mr Jarvis told the PA news agency.“But from a UK Government perspective we are crystal clear that these attacks are completely unacceptable.“There’s more that we need to do to guard against them and that’s why we’re introducing these measures.”Mr Jarvis said the measures mean cyber criminals will be “less incentivised” to target UK institutions because of the clarity the ban on ransom payments brings.“We think these proposals will provide a powerful deterrent, and what we’re wanting to do is break the business model of the cyber criminals who think that they can get away with extorting money from UK-based institutions,” he told PA.He stressed the Government would ensure “cyber criminals, whether they’re in Russia or wherever they might be, face the full weight of the UK law”.Ransomware refers to software used by cyber criminals to access the computer systems of its victims, which can then be encrypted or data stolen until a ransom is paid.It comes after four young people were arrested for their suspected involvement in damaging cyber attacks against Marks & Spencer, the Co-op and Harrods in recent months.Microsoft also said on Tuesday night that Chinese hackers had breached its SharePoint document software servers in a bid to target major corporations and government agencies.Furthermore, under the proposals, a mandatory reporting regime would mean companies and institutions that are targeted by ransomware attacks are required to report it.Mr Jarvis said the Government was going to “look very carefully at the precise details” of the regime but that it would provide more clarity and intelligence to government agencies.M&S chairman Archie Norman told MPs earlier this month that UK businesses should be legally required to report major cyber attacks as he claimed two recent hacks involving “large British companies” had gone unreported.Mr Norman said the retailer believed an Asia-based ransomware operation, DragonForce, had been involved in the attack – but refused to say whether or not a ransom was paid. More

Children could face two-hour limits on social media like TikTok and Snapchat as part of a government plan to crack down on “compulsive” phone use, the science and technology secretary has said.Peter Kyle, who is due to make an announcement in the autumn, warned of the effects on young people’s sleep and their ability to focus on studying for exams, saying he was concerned about “the overall amount of time kids spend on these apps” as well as their content. Among the ideas being seriously considered are a two-hour cap per platform, while a night-time or school-time curfew has also been discussed, according to reports. Last year Australia passed a law to ban all under 16s from social media, although the UK is not expected to go that far. It comes as a new survey showed one in five children spend at least seven hours a day using phones and tablets.Mr Kyle said he was “looking very carefully about the overall time kids spend on these apps”.”I think some parents feel a bit disempowered about how to actually make their kids healthier online,” he told Sky News.”I think some kids feel that sometimes there is so much compulsive behaviour with interaction with the apps they need some help just to take control of their online lives and those are things I’m looking at really carefully.”We talk a lot about a healthy childhood offline. We need to do the same online. I think sleep is very important, to be able to focus on studying is very important,” he added.He added that he wanted to stop children spending hours viewing content which “isn’t criminal, but it’s unhealthy, the overuse of some of these apps”.”I think we can incentivise the companies and we can set a slightly different threshold that will just tip the balance in favour of parents not always being the ones who are just ripping phones out of the kids’ hands and having a really awkward, difficult conversation around it,” he added.Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More

London’s status as a global financial hub has been left “fragile” by Brexit, the boss of Goldman Sachs has warned. David Solomon, chairman and chief executive of the bank, said it is diverting staff away from London to rival cities such as Paris, Frankfurt and Munich.Speaking to Sky’s The Master Investor Podcast with Wilfred Frost, he said: “The financial industry is still driven by talent and capital formation, and those things are much more mobile than they were 25 years ago.”London continues to be an important financial centre. But because of Brexit, because of the way the world’s evolving, the talent that was more centred here is more mobile.Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon said Brexit has put London’s status at risk More

Reform UK councillors have come under fire over plans to spend £150,000 on political advisers despite vowing to cut costs. George Finch, the 19-year-old leader of Warwickshire county council, put forward the plans, which were narrowly approved, on Tuesday.The money would pay for publicly funded political advisers for Reform and the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, the two next largest parties on the council.Despite losing a vote over climate change, Reform pushed through the £150,000 spending plans. George Finch pushed the spending plan through on Tuesday More

Angela Rayner has issued an ultimatum to Sir Keir Starmer, warning that the UK faces a repeat of last year’s summer riots unless “the government shows it can address people’s concerns”.In a dramatic intervention in the final cabinet meeting before the summer recess, the deputy prime minister said economic insecurity, immigration, the increasing time people spend online, and declining trust in institutions were having a “profound impact on society”.She warned ministers that it was “incumbent on the government to acknowledge the real concerns people have and to deliver improvements to people’s lives in their communities” amid growing concerns that there could be a repeat of the unrest that scarred communities in the wake of the Southport murders.Her words come days after violent protests broke out outside an asylum hotel in Epping, Essex, which has pushed the community to “boiling point”, according to local Tory MP Neil Hudson.Deputy PM Angela Rayner More

Grieving families will be forced to pay inheritance tax (IHT) on pensions after ministers decided to press ahead with reforms despite a fierce backlash. Rachel Reeves announced in last year’s Budget that unspent pensions would be added to estates from April 2027 in a move that is expected to raise more than £1bn a year for the Exchequer by the end of the decade.However, while it previously thought that pension providers would be responsible for calculating and paying any death duties, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has confirmed this will instead be the responsibility of the “personal representative”, or executor, of the estate.Death in service payments, meanwhile, will be exempt, ministers confirmed as they published the results of a consultation on how the scheme will work. The government estimates that around 10,500 estates will become newly liable for inheritance tax under the changes in 2027. Polling earlier this month found the move was the most unpopular tax measure announced by Labour since entering office. Just a fifth of Britons (21 per cent) supported the policy, while 44 per cent were opposed. Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, told the Times: “Life is tough enough when you have just lost a loved one without having extra layers of bureaucracy on top. In future, the person dealing with the estate will need to track down all of the pensions held by the deceased which may have any balances in them, contact the schemes, collate all the information and put it into an online calculator and then work out and pay the IHT bill.“Complications will no doubt arise where the family member cannot track down all of the deceased’s pensions or where providers are slow to supply the information needed to work out the IHT bill.”He called for “serious thought” to be given to changing the rules around penalties for late payment. Pete Maddern from the insurer Canada Life said death in service benefits “provide a critical short-term financial lifeline for loved ones following the death of a working-age earner. Including them in the changes risked much wider repercussions not only for grieving families, but also for the employers that provide these benefits for their workforce.”It was released just a day after cabinet minister Liz Kendall warned Britain faces a “tsunami of pensioner poverty” without major reform to the system, as she launched a review of the state pension age, opening the door for it to be increased. Age UK warns those looking to retire in 2050 are already on course to receive £800 per year less than current pensioners. The state pension age is currently 66 but is already set to rise to 67 in 2028 and 68 by 2046.Labour has already come under fire for the so-called ‘tractor tax’, an inheritance tax raid which critics warn could sound the death knell for family farms in England.Under those changes farms valued at £1m or more will be liable for 20 per cent inheritance tax for the first time. More