UK

Keir Starmer has been told he is “running out of excuses” to press ahead with the controversial deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.It comes after a minister admitted that Britain actually has a protection in international law against one of the major reasons senior politicians have been briefed that the UK has no choice but to hand over the islands.The government is closing in on a deal to hand over the Chagos Islands on the back of an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that the archipelago belongs to Mauritius. The agreement would see the UK lease back the Diego Garcia airbase for 140 years at an expected cost of £18bn. Donald Trump has indicated he backs the deal but critics point out that the ICJ ruling is only advisory.The Independent has learned that senior politicians have been briefed that one of the main reasons to go ahead with the deal is that the UK would fall foul of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), preventing ships going to and from the base. But a written answer has revealed that the UK is protected under international law against UNCLOS challenges.US navy at Diego Garcia More

Nigel Farage’s unveiling of 29 new Reform UK councillors fell apart within less than an hour as it emerged just nine are new, with only three of those standing for election. The Reform leader used a press conference at a swanky London hotel on Monday to unveil the slew of new councillors, claiming their defections proved “this party is very much on the up”.But the lack of high-profile names among the new defectors fed speculation that a steady stream of turncoats has largely dried up as a result of a bitter spat between Mr Farage and Rupert Lowe, the ousted ex-Reform MP. The Conservatives said Mr Farage was seeking to distract from the open warfare engulfing Reform and hoodwink journalists. Tory officials pointed out that while Mr Farage claimed all the councillors had defected in the past two weeks, four had joined Reform a month or more before the press conference. The Conservatives said Nigel Farage used Monday’s announcement as a distraction from Reform UK infighting More

Russian interference networks tried to disrupt the UK general election last year, but did not cause a “notable” impact, the security minister has said.Efforts to promote pro-Russian messages during the election period were not deemed by officials to have influenced the voting process, which overall saw “relatively low levels” of attempted interference.Dan Jarvis told the National Security Strategy Joint Committee of the findings as he was quizzed on the Government’s approach to defending democratic institutions on Monday.Mr Jarvis said: “I can tell the committee that the UK witnessed relatively low levels of attempted interference activity, which we judged to have not reached the relevant thresholds to impact or influence the outcome of elections.“But I think the committee will also be interested to know that the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) monitored known Russian foreign information manipulation and interference networks as part of the collaborative HMG effort to tackle the information threats to the general election.“We saw Russian attributed networks such as Doppelganger promote pro-Russian messages with the intent to disrupt normal functions of election and voting processes.“However, this was not judged to have caused a notable impact on the last election. But as I say, we are not remotely complacent about the potential for it happening in the future.”Doppleganger is known as a vast online network which floods social media with fake posts, counterfeit documents and deepfake material, according to the FCDO.Last October, the Government placed sanctions on Russian state-backed agencies it said was responsible for Doppleganger, called the Social Design Agency and a partner company, Structura, over their attempts to destabilise Ukraine.Asked if “we are too timid” in responding and taking action against “adversaries”, Mr Jarvis rejected the notion, adding: “I would say that we take these threats incredibly seriously.“We are well organised, and we’ve got the work strands in place that we need to make sure that we’ve got the policy foundation, and the resources in place to address the threats that we face.”Online safety minister Baroness Jones added that when faced with Russian bots trying to change the election “we acted very quickly” coordinating responses from across Government with the FCDO but also with “fellow” countries, including a response from the G7.“We do have the mechanisms in place, and we are watching very very carefully what’s occurring,” the minister added.Mr Jarvis also said he would come back to the committee with a response when asked what punitive action was taken in light of efforts made to disrupt the election last year. More

Only one in three women fleeing domestic abuse can be helped by refuges, the chief executive of Women’s Aid has said, warning that the sector’s services are on the brink of collapse. Giving evidence to the Commons Public Accounts Committee, Farah Nazeer warned that she has seen more services close – or sit on the brink of closure – in the last 7 months than she has in the previous four years.“We are in a real state of crisis and we are now at a point where we have a 65 per cent refusal rate into refuges, and a 50 per cent refusal rate into community based services”, she said. Farah Nazeer and Nicole Jacobs at the Public Accounts Committee More

Diane Abbott rejects idea of disability benefit cutsDowning Street has rejected claims that the government is overhauling the welfare system because of the difficult fiscal situation.Work and pension secretary Liz Kendall is expected to set out plans for welfare reform on Tuesday to get more people back to work and cut the cost of a benefits bill.The reforms have been met with fierce criticism from Labour backbenchers, with veteran left-winger Dianne Abbott branding the plans “not a Labour thing to do”.The prime minister’s official spokesperson said there is a moral and economic case to overhaul the benefits system.“I think the Prime Minister has been clear there is both a moral and an economic case for fixing our broken social security system that’s holding our people back, and our country back,” he said.Asked if the reforms were being carried out because of the UK’s fiscal backdrop, the spokesman replied: “No, I think when you look at the fact that we have the highest level of working-age inactivity due to ill health in western Europe, we’re the only major economy whose employment rate hasn’t recovered since the pandemic, there is a duty to fix the broken system that is letting millions of people in this country down.”How much does the UK spend on welfare as government set to announce cutsThe UK’s welfare budget is forecast to rise sharply in the next few years, driven by higher spending on pensioners and an increase in the number of people receiving health and disability benefits.But tomorrow, work and pension secretary Liz Kendall is expected to set out plans for welfare reform in an effort to get more people back to work and cut the cost of a benefits bill.How much does the UK spend in total?The government spent £296.3 billion on welfare in 2023/24, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). This is the equivalent of 10.9% of UK GDP.The OBR forecasts total spending on welfare to reach £377.7 billion in 2029/30, or 11.1% of GDP.Spending on disability benefits, which includes disability living allowance and personal independent payments, is forecast to rise from £36.3 billion in 2023/24 (accounting for 12% of the total welfare budget) to £59.4 billion in 2029/30 (16%).Government expenditure on all health and disability benefits across all age groups, including pensioners, is forecast to rise from £67.4 billion in 2023/24 to £100.7 billion by 2029/30, a jump of 56%.Jabed Ahmed17 March 2025 14:32Kemi Badenoch touts ‘biggest programme of policy renewal in a generation’Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has touted the announcement of what she claimed would be “the biggest programme of policy renewal in a generation”.Since being elected Tory leader in November, Ms Badenoch has faced criticism over a lack of clear policy, as her party faces a challenge on the right from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK following a bruising general election defeat in July.Andy Gregory17 March 2025 14:05Mike Amesbury ‘devastated’ to stand down as MP todayMike Amesbury has said that he is “devastated” to stand down as an MP today, telling GB News that “as from today I will no longer be the Member ofParliament for Runcorn and Helsby after nearly eight years as being an MP”.The former Labour MP said last week he would quit the Commons after he was given a 10-week prison term for punching a constituent which was reduced to a suspended sentence following an appeal.He said he was “sad” and “devastated”, adding: “Not only for me, but … my staff as well, because, course, it goes beyond me, for my family. This is a result of something that I did on October 26.”Asked about the incident, Amesbury said “I should have walked away” and “I don’t recognise myself”, adding: “But it is me, and it’s very important that I’ve owned that through the legal process … a plea of guilty”He continued: “I’ve paid a price, I’ve been punished and rightfully so, and I hope that I learn from this.”Apologising to the constituent he punched, he said: “I’m so sincerely sorry to Mr Fellows, his family, my own family”, and described reliving the moment as “like a living nightmare”.Runcorn and Helsby MP Mike Amesbury (centre) leaving Chester Crown Court after he had his 10-week prison sentence for assault suspended for two years (Peter Byrne/PA) More

Rachel Reeves’s mission to grow the UK economy has taken yet another knock, as the country’s economic forecast has been slashed as a result of a mounting trade war sparked by Donald Trump’s global tariffs. Experts warned of rising inflation and a hit to world growth, dashing Labour’s hopes of reviving Britain’s spluttering economy, central to the party’s mission for government. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) cut its predictions for UK growth to 1.4 per cent in 2025 and 1.2 per cent in 2026, down from 1.7 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively from its previous predictions. ‘A changing world means Britain must change too,’ says Rachel Reeves More

The former head of Ofsted has lashed out at the education secretary, accusing her of caring more about the interests of unions than schoolchildren. In a scathing broadside at Bridget Phillipson’s education reforms, Amanda Spielman accused her of bowing to the “demands of unions”.And Ms Spielman, who stood down as the head of the schools watchdog in 2023, called for her to abandon the plans “before the damage is done”.But a government source hit back at Ms Spielman, saying she should “spend less time criticising the reforms this government is bringing and more time reflecting on her failure at Ofsted and on a teaching profession that entirely lost confidence in her as chief inspector”. Amanda Spielman urged Ms Phillipson to drop her plans More