UK

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

One of Reform’s most prominent candidates in the local elections is facing potential disqualification over claims that she does not live in the area.Dame Andrea Jenkyns, who is running as the Reform UK candidate for the newly created role of mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, will face a hearing next Friday, just six days before voters go to the polls.Dame Andrea is currently leading in the polls in the hotly contested county, and was a high-profile defector from the Tories, having previously been a right-wing supporter of Boris Johnson when she was a Conservative MP.It comes as Reform’s local election campaign has been beset by problems, including the party’s ousted Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe announcing his intention to sue Nigel Farage for defamation. The party is also fending off claims that it is trying to recruit disgraced former prime minister Liz Truss.Jenkyns is unveiled as Reform’s 100,000th member with Farage and the Reform party chair Zia Yusuf More

Donald Trump has warned that “substantial” baseline tariffs will remain on goods imported to the US from all countries, in a blow for Rachel Reeves as she heads to Washington next week for trade talks.The UK is hoping a deal can help stave off the full brunt of the US president’s sweeping 10% tariffs on all goods imported to the US, and The Telegraph has reported that White House officials believe an agreement could be reached “within three weeks”.But on Thursday Trump said that he is in “no rush” to reach any trade deals because of the revenues his tariffs are generating.“Tariffs are making us rich. We were losing a lot of money under Biden – trillions of dollars, trillions on trade and now, that whole tide has turned,” he said while meeting Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni at the White House.Trump has claimed that as many as 75 countries have contacted his administration hoping to make trade deals after he hiked tariffs on all nearly countries but Russia, later reducing them all to a baseline 10 per cent. “We’re taking in a lot of money, which we’ve never done before,” he said. “We’re moving along very nicely and going to end up with a baseline of a substantial number – which we never got anything.”The president included a 10 per cent levy on imports from the UK in his initial round of new tariffs alongside a 25 per cent levy on car imports.His warning may dampen the hopes of chancellor Rachel Reeves for talks she will have in Washington DC next week, aiming to secure a trade deal.She said she would be having “conversations with the US administration” that “active negotiations” with the Americans were continuing.US vice-president JD Vance said this week there was a good chance a trade deal could be reached with the UK. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves visited the British Steel site in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, on Wednesday (Danny Lawson/PA) More

The ongoing bin strike in Birmingham has sparked a fierce public debate about council mismanagement, union power, and who should bear the cost when local services collapse. With rubbish piling up on the streets for weeks and fears of a public health crisis growing, Independent readers have shared strong views on the root causes and the way forward.When we asked for your views, many blamed years of government underfunding and austerity, accusing successive Conservative administrations of stripping local councils of the resources they need to function. Others argued that Labour-led Birmingham City Council must take responsibility for financial missteps, including equal pay liabilities and poor investment decisions that left it bankrupt.Some readers expressed sympathy for the refuse workers, noting the heavy and unappealing nature of the job, while others questioned the fairness of the current pay structure and accused unions like Unite of being inflexible. Meanwhile, the idea of military involvement amid the strikes proved divisive. In our poll, 42 per cent said public health must come first and backed army support, while 33 per cent insisted this isn’t the army’s job, and 20 per cent said it should be limited to extreme cases.Here’s what you had to say:Decades of harmWatching the news earlier and the top three stories:The compensation for all those Sub-Postmasters – whilst I concede that has been going on for a long time – for 14 years we had the Tories failing to act.The bin collection in Birmingham – whilst I absolutely concede that councils up and down the country are at best feckless and useless – we should remember that, starting with Cameron, every single council had their funding cut by at least 20 per cent.Scunthorpe steel works – have we so soon forgotten the Tories’ asset-stripping of the nation?Don’t misconstrue – I’m no fan of Starmer or the Labour party – it’s the Tories I loathe for all the harm they’ve done to this country, harm that will take decades to undo.TomSnoutA heavy, dirty jobThis dispute goes further back than pay cuts.Years ago, the unions for some of the lowest-paid council staff (mainly female) came up with a good wheeze to get their members a hefty pay rise with compensation for “lost” back pay. They claimed that their members were doing equal work to the highest-paid unskilled manual workers – the binmen (mainly men) – and took the claim through the courts to get a ruling in their favour.The huge compensation bill bankrupted or nearly bankrupted most councils, which didn’t have the money to give everyone the pay rise they demanded. So the only viable alternative to comply with the ruling was to equalise pay rates by cutting the pay of the binmen, sparking off the inevitable industrial disputes – that’s how we got to here.But working on the bins is a heavy, dirty job that can impact health, and few would want to do it, which is why it has always attracted enhanced pay rates. I suspect this is recognised by most people.Maybe the solution is to get the workers who claimed to be doing equivalent work to get the gloves on and start clearing the piles of rubbish themselves?MellieCFloodgatesUnite’s inflexible position is: “This is a pay cut.”Yes. It is a pay cut. Birmingham Council is bankrupt, and it was bankrupted by a Labour council. Cuts in spending are regrettable, but unavoidable.There is also a “floodgates” argument here. If Unite wins this round, it will be impossible to cut spending in any other area of the council’s activities. A precedent will have been set. So it is not a case of “It’s only 17 jobs, give them the money”. It is about the council’s right to manage its budget for 58,000 employees.So the stakes are indeed high, for both sides. But Birmingham taxpayers deserve a break. They are not willing to give Unite a blank cheque.SteveHillCreation of new rolesThe last strike was in 2017. The council agreed to the creation of a new role that pays up to £8k more than the binmen’s salary. This new role doesn’t actually exist – the men getting paid the extra money do the same job as those who don’t. But it ended the strike, so for a while things were OK, though to me the union is letting down the two members of each bin crew who don’t get the extra.The council is facing legal cases from other employees who look at the Grade 3 job description and say that their jobs match or exceed it, and they are only on Grade 2 pay. So the council could face huge costs if it doesn’t get rid of the Grade 3 role. Hence, this strike.Is Unite supporting the claims of the Grade 2 workers, or is it only interested in the binmen?avidmidlandsreaderSour investmentsAnother reason why councils are running out of cash is that they were allowed to take out massive loans to buy property investments over the last 15 years – when they did not have a clue what they were doing. Many of these investments have turned sour and have bankrupted some councils. Is it a surprise when the public is questioning the competence of governments and councils?Why can’t high-calibre people be appointed to positions of responsibility to make well-informed and sensible decisions?MatFunding death spiralLocal authorities are in a funding death spiral and have been for years… and successive governments seem happy to simply ignore the issue, while cutting financial support to local authorities to the bone.Ultimately, this is the government’s responsibility – give councils more money so they can support vital services. Is an extra 10 miles of new motorway worth more than getting a city’s rubbish collected?Priorities again… and we simply can’t be seen to give in to the unions, no matter how worthy the pay claim.Who suffers? Us. Who will foot the bill? Us. Who will walk away smiling, utterly unaffected by any of this? Politicians.captaintrippsSome of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity. You can read the full discussion in the comments section of the original article here.The conversation isn’t over. To join in, all you need to do is register your details, then you can take part in the discussion. You can also sign up by clicking ‘log in’ on the top right-hand corner of the screen.Make sure you adhere to our community guidelines, which can be found here. For a full guide on how to comment click here. More

Ousted Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe has ordered his lawyers to sue Nigel Farage for defamation over alleged bullying allegations.The Great Yarmouth MP is also suing Reform’s chairman Zia Yusuf and chief whip Lee Anderson in the latest stage of a row which saw the party plunged into turbulence in the past month.The dramatic intervention comes in the middle of Reform’s push to win hundreds of council seats in the local elections on 1 May and win the Runcorn by-election in the first serious test since the election.Supporters of Mr Lowe claim that he was targeted by Mr Farage because he was seen as a potential rival for Reform’s leadership following Elon Musk endorsing him in January. However, the party has accused him of being involved with the bullying of staff and making a threats towards Mr Yusuf.Nigel Farage leads Reform UK (Owen Humphreys/PA) More

The NHS will be pursued if it does not follow new guidance on gender and single-sex spaces, the equalities watchdog has warned in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that transgender women are not legally women. The judgment, which stated 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 if doing so is deemed “proportionate”.Current NHS guidance means trans people are accommodated on wards and other areas according to their presentation – the way they dress, and the name and pronouns they use. But Wednesday’s ruling now means NHS wards must accommodate patients based on their biological sex.Kishwer Falkner, chair of the EHRC, which says it is ‘working at pace’ to provide an updated code of conduct for services More

Reform UK’s candidate in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election was previously reprimanded for using her status as a magistrate to influence colleagues, it has emerged. A finding of misconduct was made against Sarah Pochin by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) in 2018 during her time as a magistrate – a role she held for 20 years. The JCIO found Ms Pochin had used her status as a magistrate to influence the views held by her colleagues in a political context at a meeting. The watchdog also found she breached confidentiality by publicising the complaint levelled against her, saying her “behaviour fell below the standards expected of a magistrate”. Sarah Pochin and Nigel Farage in Reform UK’s campaign office in Runcorn More