UK

Donald Trump risks becoming a “cheerleader for Russia” in its war in Ukraine, the former defence secretary has warned after the US president confirmed he is prepared to walk away from peace talks. Ben Wallace, who was defence secretary between 2019 and 2023, said Mr Trump could become a “bystander” if he pulls out of the peace process. His comments come after Mr Trump doubled down on Washington’s threats to abandon talks aimed at brokering a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine if there are no signs of immediate progress.Ben Wallace said Donald Trump is not good at making deals More

More than 70 refugee charities and human rights organisations have called on Yvette Cooper to shut a “prison-like” former RAF base housing asylum seekers in Essex. Just weeks after the High Court found the Home Secretary acted unlawfully in housing three asylum seekers at the facility, the campaigners have piled pressure on Ms Cooper to shut the “unsafe and unsuitable” site for good.Sir Keir Starmer this month declined to set a date for when the former RAF station will be shuttered, despite pledging to close it during the general election. An aerial view of RAF Wethersfield in Essex (Joe Giddens/PA) More

Councils are expected to start using a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool to digitise old planning documents and cut backlogs as part of the Government’s drive to build 1.5 million homes.Ministers hope the technology will help boost efficiency and prevent errors in record-keeping by turning blurry maps and handwritten notes into “machine-readable, shareable data”.The tool, named Extract and developed by a team within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), will undergo several rounds of safety testing before being deployed as early as this year.The Government says it could drastically reduce the time needed to convert old paper records into digital form, performing in 40 seconds tasks which typically take planners one to two hours to complete.Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said sluggish processes and outdated documents had made it “nearly impossible” for local authorities to take informed decisions quickly.“Technology like this could be a vital step towards councils meeting targets to help build the 1.5 million new homes the country needs, all while updating and improving the planning system for the future,” he said.DSIT said the tool could potentially be used across the public sector because “location-specific data is used to deliver services and inform Government policy and decisions across departments.”Sir Keir Starmer has said proposals for the wider digitisation across public services under his administration could achieve productivity savings of up to £45 billion a year.Labour’s plans also include streamlining the planning process by cutting red tape and giving councils new powers to seize land to speed up building as part of its flagship Planning and Infrastructure Bill.Joe Hill, policy director at the Reform public services think tank, welcomed the focus on new technology for local authorities but warned its benefits would only come if many councils are using the software day to day.He told the PA news agency: ““It is great to see the Government embracing new technology in public services. We will not achieve a leaner and more productive state without radical transformation through technology.“The key question is whether the Government can effectively scale up these new AI tools.“Our research has highlighted how Government regularly pilots new tools, then doesn’t scale them up – but the benefits only come if lots of councils are using this kind of software day to day.”He added: “However, the Government’s mission to meet the housing crisis with ambitious targets for new homes won’t be met by simply digitising a broken planning system, it needs to fundamentally reform planning processes themselves to create a system which incentivises housebuilding”. More

Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to follow in Donald Trump’s footsteps and appear more regularly in front of the media. Labour MPs have called on the prime minister to act more like the US president, who has made surprise calls to live TV news shows and held long meetings with cabinet members on camera. The result is that Mr Trump dominates news coverage in America, with a growing number of senior Labour figures believing Sir Keir would do well to adopt the tactic. Labour MPs want Sir Keir Starmer to take a more hands-on approach with the media More

Sir Keir Starmer has held his first conversation with Donald Trump since the US president announced tariffs on all UK imports to America on 3 April. A Downing Street spokesperson said the two leaders discussed the “ongoing and productive discussions” on trade between the UK and the United States.The pair also discussed the war in Ukraine, Iran and recent action taken against the Houthis in Yemen.“The prime minister reiterated his commitment to free and open trade and the importance of protecting the national interest,” Sir Keir’s spokesperson said.It is the first time the two leaders have spoken since Mr Trump unveiled an array of tariffs on countries earlier this month, in what he branded “liberation day”.This included a 10 per cent tariff on all UK goods imported to the US. A 25 per cent levy on car imports announced earlier by Mr Trump also applies to the UK.A Downing Street spokesperson said the two leaders discussed the ‘ongoing and productive discussions’ on trade More

Former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption has warned that organisations are potentially misinterpreting the landmark ruling that defined women by biology earlier this week.Lord Sumption told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme that, contrary to much of the commentary on the Supreme Court ruling, judges did not take a side and did not provide an obligation to create single sex spaces.The ruling has been interpreted by many as an exclusion of trans women from single-sex women’s spaces.The ruling followed a legal challenge against the Scottish government by the campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS) over the definition of “woman” in Scottish legislation mandating 50 per cent female representation on public boards.Lord Sumption’s comments come after Kishwer Falkner, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, suggested that she would pursue NHS trusts which did not protect single-sex wards.Former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption More

During the painful Brexit negotiations to extract the UK from the EU, Theresa May was famously told that Britain “could not have its cake and eat it” in terms of wanting things both ways.In other words you cannot have the benefits of membership but not actually be a member. It seemed simple at the time.But now the approach of “cakism”, as Boris Johnson called it, seems to be back on the menu but this time with Labour prime minister Sir Keir Starmer wanting a trade deal with the US at the same time as trying to get a reset trade arrangement with the EU.As one pro-EU activist terms it: “Chlorinated chicken has replaced cake. You can’t have Trump’s (US) chlorinated chicken and a closer relationship with the EU.”The prime minister has insisted there is “no choice” to be made between the US and EU, but with two crucial dates coming up quickly he may well be forced into a difficult choice which could determine the direction of Britain for a generation.US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (Carl Court/PA) More

Single-sex spaces for women will become more dangerous, not safer, after Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling, a transgender campaigner has warned. Sitting down with The Independent, Jaxon Feeley said the landmark ruling that trans women are not legally women is impossible to enforce in practice. The judgment, which states that the definition of a woman in equality law is based on biological sex, means trans women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) can be excluded from single-sex spaces and has been billed as a victory for biological women.Jaxon Feeley has described Wednesday’s judgment as ‘frightening’ More