UK

Brexit has created a “mind blowing” nearly two billion extra pieces of paperwork for businesses – enough to wrap around the world 15 times. If they were all laid end to end they would also reach to the moon and half way back again, an analysis of research by the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade by the Liberal Democrats found. Lib Dem trade spokesperson Clive Jones said it showed the scale of red tape plaguing British businesses since the UK’s withdrawal from Europe. He said: “The Conservatives’ botched Brexit deal is suffocating businesses, tying them up in a Gordian Knot of red tape, as they try to export our fantastic British products and produce across the world. These figures are mind blowing.” The scale of Brexit red tape has been revealed More

Labour’s plans to reform the welfare system by getting more people into work is the best route to helping people out a poverty, a leading think tank says, warning that ”for too long now it’s been sickness that pays”.The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), founded by Sir Iain Duncan Smith, did the groundwork for the last overhaul of welfare and the creation of the universal credit.But it has raised concerns that work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall’s reforms do not go far enough to deal with an over-medicated population. It comes as the CSJ has published a report showing that 84 per cent of GPs believe too much medicine is being handed out for mental health issues, particularly depression.Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced £5bn in cuts (James Manning/PA) More

A furious row has broken out after a Labour MP serving on the assisted dying bill committee was forced to leave because her hearing aid batteries had run flat.Bradford West MP Naz Shah posted on X (formerly Twitter) last night to express her frustration because the committee session had been extended, despite her warning that her hearing aids would need recharging.She posted on X: “I apologised to the members of the assisted dying bill committee tonight as I had to leave early. I didn’t want to but had to because my hearing aids need to recharge after 15 hours use and without them I cannot hear or take part in the committee. Naz Shah More

A Labour minister has hit back at left-wing critics of government benefit cuts, accusing them of “defending a Tory benefit system”.Pensions minister Torsten Bell said the current welfare system “has failed and is driving up the number of people who are out of work and receiving benefits”. And, asked about critics of the government, including former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell, Mr Bell said: “I’ve said this gently to John and to others that they are defending a Tory benefit system that writes off millions as unable to work.” Torsten Bell said left-wing critics were “defending a Tory benefit system” More

Boris Johnson, one of Britain’s best known supporters of Donald Trump, has vented his fury after the failure of the US President’s talks with Vladimir Putin.The former prime minister claimed that Putin’s refusal to agree to Trump’s plan for a ceasefire in the Ukraine war shows the Russian leader is ‘laughing at us.’Mr Johnson, who led Europe’s support for Ukraine when the war started during his prime ministership, said Putin had showed that far from wanting peace he was determined to ‘keep bombing and killing innocent Ukrainians.’Donald Trump supporter and former British prime minister Boris Johnson (right) has vented his fury over the failure of the US president’s talks with Putin More

Britain’s Labour Party government on Tuesday announced an overhaul of the welfare system that it says will save the cash-strapped administration 5 billion pounds ($6.5 billion). Critics claim it will harm some of the U.K.’s most vulnerable people.The government says the shakeup will help people who are currently “written off” find jobs. It’s a risky strategy for a party founded more than a century ago to fight for the rights of working people, and it has made trade unions and party supporters uneasy.Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told lawmakers in the House of Commons that the government had inherited a broken social security system that is “failing the very people it is supposed to help and holding our country back.”She said Britain’s statistics are stark, with one in 10 working-age people claiming a sickness or disability benefit, and “millions of people who could work trapped on benefits.”Blaming the Conservatives, who lost power in July after 14 years, for damaging the economy and health system, Kendall said “the social security system will always be there for people in genuine need.”But she announced changes to the way disabilities are assessed. Campaigners say that will make it harder for people to get and keep benefits.The changes, which will have to be approved by Parliament, are expected to save more than 5 billion pounds by 2030.Not everything is being cut. The overhaul also includes an above-inflation increase to universal credit, one of the most common welfare benefits. Kendall said 1 billion pounds will be spent to “tear down barriers to work,” including new rules allowing welfare recipients to try out paid jobs without losing their benefits.The government claims a lack of support towards employment is trapping sick and disabled people in economic inactivity. Kendall said that “in most comparable countries” spending on sickness and disability benefits “is either stable or falling – whilst ours continues to inexorably rise.”The Disability Benefits Consortium, which represents more than 100 charities and organizations, said the “cruel” changes “will largely hit those who are unable to work and rely on these benefits to survive.”Sarah Hughes, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, said the cuts would make it harder for people to get support and “will only serve to deepen the nation’s mental health crisis.”Prime Minister Keir Starmer ’s center-left government has seen its popularity plummet as it grapples with a sluggish economy and creaking public services.Treasury chief Rachel Reeves is due to make a spring budget statement on March 26, and is expected to trim public spending to make up for lower-than-expected tax takings and high borrowing costs.Tuesday’s welfare announcement followed weeks of speculation about how deep the cuts would be.Labour lawmaker Imran Hussain said that “thousands of the most severely disabled people in my constituency, and millions across the U.K., have watched in disbelief as politicians debate cuts to the support that enables their very survival, leaving many at breaking point.”Kendall said she understood “the worry and anxiety.”“And I hope I’ve made it clear to the House today, I don’t start from a position of being tough,” she said. “I start by precisely from a position of compassion.” More