UK

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreUnder-performing civil servants could be enticed to leave their jobs, and senior officials will have their pay linked to performance, under new government plans.Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden has said that “the state is not match-fit to rise to the moment our country faces” as he said ministers will “fundamentally reshape” the service.However a union has described the plans as a “retreading of failed narratives” and accused the government of delivering a “soundbite, not a credible plan for change”.It is one in a series of reforms expected to be set out by the government this week that will also cover housing and regulation.They will go alongside what officials are calling an “intervention” from the prime minister on Thursday.In the plans to be announced by Mr McFadden at the start of the week, he will promise a new “mutually agreed exits” process, in which civil servants who cannot perform at the level required of them are persuaded to leave their jobs.Pat McFadden said ‘the state is not match-fit to rise to the moment our country faces’ More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreThe UK will still have some of the worst protections for unwell people in the developed world despite the government’s new bill on employment rights, leaving 8.3 million contracted workers with the equivalent of as little as £3 an hour.Campaigners are calling on the government to go further on sick pay and make rates more liveable as the Employment Rights Bill is put to a vote in parliament next week.Currently, around one in four workers in the UK – around 7 million people – are only entitled to receive statutory sick pay (SSP) instead of enhanced sick pay from their employers. SSP amounts to a fixed rate of just £116.75 per week, or £467 per month, for eligible workers.Dr Matt Padley from Loughborough University warns that the current rate of statutory sick pay is “not enough to live on” and says the knock-on effects are numerous. “Anyone having to rely on SSP for any length of time is likely to see a substantial drop in their income, and if they are unable to return to work for several months, the gap between income and what’s needed to live with dignity will grow,” the social policy researcher told The Independent.“At the same time, cost-of-living pressures continue and the rate of sick pay – already very low – will fall further and further short of meeting basic material needs.”The government announced it is extending sick pay to workers earning under £123 a week from day one of their illness. Staff will be paid 80 per cent of their average weekly earning or £116.75 statutory sick pay, whichever is lowest.While this will mean an extra 1.3 million people will be eligible for the statutory sick pay rate under the changes in the Employment Rights Bill, 8.3 million people in the UK will still receive far less than the living or even minimum wage if they fall sick.For someone usually working 35 hours per week, statutory sick pay equates to just £3.33 per hour. For those working closer to 40 hours per week, this would be just £2.91 per hour.Danny Hine-Berry, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2022, said the rate of sick pay – just £96 per week at the time – was not enough to survive.Mr Hine-Berry told The Independent: “It left me in a lot of financial difficulty. And when you’re going through something like that, you should be able to focus on getting better. But instead, I had kind of all these worries and stress about money on top of my physical health problems.”Danny Hine-Berry was just 23 when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, and had to travel 20 miles for radiotherapy treatment More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreMore than 1,000 sick and disabled benefit claimants died while waiting to receive vital payments last year, The Independent can reveal, laying bare the crisis in the welfare system.Department for Work and Pensions figures show that between November 2023 and October 2024, 900,000 people applied for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) benefits – the main support for those with an illness, disability or mental health condition.Applicants faced an average wait of almost four months to have their claims processed – but 1,300 died before receiving a final decision, figures released under Freedom of Information laws show.It comes as Rachel Reeves plans to slash the welfare bill by up to £5bn in her spring Budget and force people back to work, with reports on Friday suggesting the majority of the cuts will fall on those claiming PIP benefits.The figures come as Rachel Reeves prepares to take an axe to welfare spending More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreWhen Elon Musk had his epiphany in January and publicly endorsed Rupert Lowe to replace Nigel Farage as leader of Reform UK, I received a message within minutes.“That’s the end of Rupert. Nigel won’t tolerate that,” said a former ally of Mr Farage.Two months later, Mr Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth and former Southampton football club chair, finds himself suspended from the party. He is facing serious allegations of bullying towards female staff and claims that he made threats of physical violence against the party’s chair. Reform has even referred the matter to the police.In terms of timing, the ousting came after 48 hours of Mr Lowe creating headlines questioning Mr Farage’s leadership and complaining about the dysfunction in Reform UK.It did not take long for a number of senior former Reform figures who have been forced out in recent months, including ex-deputy leader Ben Habib and ex-London mayor candidate Howard Cox, to allege that Mr Lowe had been framed.While investigations will now determine the truth about Mr Lowe’s behaviour, the row has blown open a problem within Reform that has been bubbling below the surface for months now.Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe has been suspended from Reform UK More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreAs the world marks international women’s day, a top barrister has issued a new plea for the reputation of Christine Keeler, the model at the heart of Britain’s most notorious sex scandal, to be cleared.Felicity Gerry KC has been fighting the case to clear Ms Keeler’s name for the past five years and spoke to The Independent about how the young model best known for her brief relationship with former war secretary John Profumo may finally have her reputation restored.The Profumo scandal, often described as Britain’s first modern political sex scandal, saw the 1963 resignation of then secretary for war John Profumo after he lied to parliament about his affair with Ms Keeler. The model was later pursued in court on unrelated charges.“She was only 19 when all this happened and she had to live with it for the rest of her life with people saying and reporting what they wanted about her, most of it not true,” Dr Gerry said.Christine Keeler was the woman at the centre of the Profumo scandal More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreBritain and other European nations must be ready to take over Nato if Donald Trump carries out US threats to withdraw from the organisation.They must replace American military aid to Ukraine scrapped by Mr Trump and make sure Russian leader Vladimir Putin does not win the conflict.That was the powerful message delivered on Saturday by former Conservative defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace.“We are witnessing a new era where we cannot take for granted US security guarantees,” said Sir Ben.The former defence secretary said Britain and other European nations must be ready to take over Nato if president Donald Trump withdraws the US More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreThe Taliban issued a message on International Women’s Day, saying Afghan women live in security with their rights protected, even as the U.N. condemned ongoing employment and education bans.Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, they have barred education for women and girls beyond sixth grade, most employment, and many public spaces. Last August, the Vice and Virtue Ministry published laws that ban women’s voices and bare faces outside the home.The Taliban’s chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid released a statement on his official X account, without specifically mentioning International Women’s Day, which is celebrated on March 8.He said the dignity, honor, and legal rights of women were a priority for the Islamic emirate, the term used by the Taliban to describe their government.Afghan women lived in security, both physically and psychologically, he added.“In accordance with Islamic law and the culture and traditions of Afghan society, the fundamental rights of Afghan women have been secured. However, it should not be forgotten that the rights of Afghan women are being discussed within an Islamic and Afghan society, which has clear differences from Western societies and their culture,” said Mujahid.Also Saturday, the U.N. renewed its call for the Taliban to lift the bans.“The erasure of women and girls from public life cannot be ignored,” said Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan. “We remain committed to investing in their resilience and leadership, as they are key to Afghanistan’s future.”Alison Davidian, special representative for U.N. Women Afghanistan, said the world could not accept a future for Afghan women that would never be tolerated elsewhere.“Our response to their erasure is a test of our commitment to women and girls everywhere,” said Davidian. “We must stand with Afghan women as if our own lives depend on it — because they do.”The Taliban remain isolated from the West — and without international recognition as the country’s official government — because of their restrictions on women and girls.On Friday in Paris, UNESCO hosted a high-level conference on women and girls in Afghanistan. Participants included Hamida Aman, the founder of the women-only station Radio Begum, Fawzia Khoofi, a parliamentarian from the former Western-backed government, and rights experts including Richard Bennett, who is barred from entering Afghanistan.In an apparent dig at the event, the spokesman for the Vice and Virtue Ministry Saif ul-Islam Khyber said recent international conferences held under the name of women’s rights exposed the hypocrisy of certain organizations and European Union foundations. More