UK

China’s attempts to spy, destabilize and disrupt Britain’s economy and democracy have grown, but Beijing is still a vital economic partner for the U.K., the government said Tuesday.Foreign Secretary David Lammy said “China’s power is an inescapable fact” and freezing relations with the world’s second biggest economy is “not an option.” He spoke to lawmakers as he outlined findings from the government’s “China audit.”“China is our third biggest trading partner, our universities’ second largest source of international students. China will continue to play a vital role in supporting the U.K.’s secure growth,” Lammy said.The Labour Party government pledged to conduct an in-depth examination of U.K.-China relations after it was elected almost a year ago, in an effort to balance the country’s economic interests and its security. Many details of the review will remain classified for security reasons, Lammy said.Its conclusions were summarized in a document outlining the U.K. government’s broader national security strategy. It said that “instances of China’s espionage, interference in our democracy and the undermining of our economic security have increased in recent years.”Yet the government resisted pressure from China hawks in Parliament to label China a threat on a par with Russia. The security review called it a “geostrategic challenge” but also an essential player in tackling major issues such as climate change, global health and economic stability.“We will seek a trade and investment relationship that supports secure and resilient growth, and boosts the U.K. economy,” the government said. “Yet there are several major areas, such as human rights and cybersecurity, where there are stark differences and where continued tension is likely.”Opposition Conservative Party foreign affairs spokeswoman Priti Patel said the government was showing “signs of naivety” about China. Another Conservative lawmaker, Harriet Cross, branded Beijing “at best unreliable and at worst hostile.”U.K.-China relations have chilled since the short-lived “golden era” announced by then-Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015, after a series of spying and cyberespionage allegations, Beijing’s crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, a former British colony, and China’s support for Russia in the Ukraine war.There was no immediate comment from China on the review.China was one of many challenges identified in a review that the government said marked “a hardening and a sharpening of our approach to national security” in an increasingly dangerous world.Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has pledged, along with other NATO members, to increase spending on security to 5% of gross domestic product by 2035. The total includes 3.5% on defense and 1.5% on broader security and resilience.The U.K. currently spends 2.3% of national income on defense and says that will rise to 2.6% by 2027. More

The UK must prepare for the possibility of a “wartime scenario” on home soil, a major new government review has warned.The National Security Strategy, published on Tuesday, has issued the grim warning as events in the Middle East and Russia’s war with Ukraine continue to add to international instability.It comes just 48 hours after Iran threatened to target UK bases following the US attack on its nuclear facilities, before a ceasefire was announced last night.The strategy also recommends that UK citizens undergo “national resilience exercises” in preparation for attacks at home.Starmer arrives at Amsterdam Schiphol airport ahead of attending the Nato summit at The Hague More

Sir Keir Starmer has left the door open for tax rises in order to pay for mammoth increases to defence spending, amid growing questions over how the UK will afford the £30bn pledge. On Tuesday, Britain joined its Nato allies in committing to spending 5 per cent of GDP on defence and related spending by 2035. But IFS director Paul Johnson warned that the planned increase in defence spending would cost more than £30bn – a sum that he said could only come from tax increases, “because in the end there’s nowhere else it can come from”.Starmer arrives for the Nato summit More

Labour’s controversial welfare cuts face a significant hurdle at a crunch Commons vote on Monday as more than 100 Labour MPs form a rebellion against the plans.An amendment signed by these 108 rebels would essentially halt the reforms if passed, as it would prevent the government’s bill from progressing any further through Parliament.The episode marks a major challenge to Sir Keir Starmer’s government. Should all of the rebels stand by the amendment – alongside MPs from other parties – then they would hold a majority of 29.This would be more than enough to secure an embarrassing and uncommon defeat for the Labour government.Entitled the ‘Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill’, the government’s proposed legislation would see the eligibility and/or payment rates of both of these benefits sharply cut back for disabled claimants.The changes put forward by the group of Labour rebels would not halt these plans forever, but essentially lists several issues that mean the signatories cannot abide by the changes as things stand.Speaker of the House Lindsay Hoyle would need to select this amendment for it to be voted on, but with the amount of support it is unlikely that he would not. If this were to happen, MPs would still be required to vote on the main bill anyway, keeping the door open for a potential rebellion.Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has refused to declare how she will ask the party’s MPs to vote on either the amendment or the bill. Rebel Labour MPs would likely need the support of most of these members for the amendment to pass.Five key reasons are listed in the amendment, including the lack of a formal consultation with disabled people, and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) analysis that the plans would push 250,000 into poverty, including 50,000 children.Also listed as a key issue is that the OBR is not due to publish its employment impact of the reforms essentially an analysis of how many people they would support into work, until autumn – months after MPs are expected to vote on them.However, the text of the amendment does also begin by “noting the need for the reform of the social security system,” as well as “agreeing with the government’s principles for providing support to people into work and protecting people who cannot work.”The amendment has been signed by 11 Commons committee chairs, including Dame Meg Hillier (Treasury select committee) and Debbie Abrahams (Work and Pensions select committee). Confirming her decision to sign the amendment on Bluesky, Ms Abrahams said: “I’ve signed this as I believe there are alternative ways we can achieve the Government’s goals of increasing employment while reducing sickness and disability cases, therefore reducing overall disability benefits spending.”“This can be achieved through improvements in the Labour market, along side increases in NHS and employment support. Not by impoverishing disabled people and their families further from next April by cutting their benefits before all these measures are in place.” More

Trans women visiting parliament will be barred from using women’s toilets under new guidance, The Independent can reveal. Until now visitors to the estate could use toilets most appropriate for their gender, but new guidance advises them to use toilets based on their biological sex, or gender-neutral facilities – prompting accusations of a “knee-jerk response”. It comes after barrister Robin Moira White, a trans woman, faced complaints from gender critical campaigners for using the women’s facilities while attending a meeting in parliament last week. Following the Supreme Court’s April ruling, which said that the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission issued draft guidance on a range of topics, including trans people’s participation in sport and use of toilets.It was previously understood the Commons was waiting for the publication of the EHRC’s full guidance before updating their policy. However, the same rule had already been introduced into the Scottish Parliament.The House of Commons has changed its policy for bathroom use in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling More

Bullying claims in parliament have soared by 40 per cent as a growing number of MPs are accused of misconduct. Parliament’s bullying and harassment watchdog said there was a sharp rise in complaints in the year to April, even as parliament broke for the general election. In its annual report, the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) said it had investigated 69 cases in the year, up from 47 the previous year.Parliament’s bullying and harassment scheme recorded an uplift in complaints More

It normally takes much more than just a year in power for a prime minister to face a full rebellion involving more than 100 MPs.While Sir Keir Starmer has had a very bumpy time at the start of his premiership, despite winning a massive majority, this is the first time he has been staring down the barrel of a defeat in a crucial vote in the Commons.But if all 108 Labour MPs – including 12 chairs of select committees – stick to their guns next week and vote for the reasoned amendment, and the opposition parties support them, then the government will lose the second reading vote on its welfare reform bill.It is worth noting that the 108 figure does not include any ministers who may still resign over the issue and vote against the government.Starmer with his work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall More

Sir Keir Starmer has pledged that the UK will spend 5 per cent of GDP on national security and defence by 2035.The announcement comes as he signs a new Nato deal ahead of joining leaders at the defence bloc’s summit in the Hague.The 5 per cent figure had been demanded by Donald Trump, who has insisted that Europe needs to stop relying on the US for defence spending.However, Downing Street has continued to say that the original aim of 3 per cent on defence after the next election remains only an “ambition” raising questions over whether the UK can afford the new commitment.Keir Starmer with Volodymyr Zelensky during talks at 10 Downing Street More