Category: News Story

STORY

Kawser Azad has been jailed for seven years after admitting serious county lines drug offences linked to the supply of heroin and crack cocaine across East Kent. Kent Police said Azad, 29, of Countess Road, Northampton, was identified by detectives as a leading member of the “Marlow line”, a county line supplying drugs in the Canterbury area. Officers linked him to drug supply activity after an investigation that began in 2022.

Azad was arrested on Wednesday 13 July 2022 after officers spotted him driving a black Mercedes along Stodmarsh Road. Police said he drove away at high speed when an unmarked police vehicle activated its lights, reaching at least 72mph in a 30mph zone before stopping in Sussex Avenue.

A search of the car uncovered two mobile phones and around 70 wraps of suspected Class A drugs. Forensic tests later confirmed the packages included 37 wraps of diamorphine and 38 wraps of crack cocaine. Police also found evidence of drug dealing on the phones, including bulk messages sent to hundreds of contacts advertising drug deals.

Azad was charged with four offences, including two counts of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs, facilitating a person with intent to exploit and dangerous driving. He later pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday 1 May. Detective Constable Danny Holloway said Azad had brought “dangerous illegal drugs into East Kent” and said the sentence should serve as a warning to others involved in drug trafficking.

STORY

The UK has announced new sanctions against Iranian-linked individuals and organisations accused of threatening UK and international security. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said the measures were aimed at disrupting hostile Iranian activity, criminal proxy networks and illicit finance flows linked to the regime.

The sanctions target organisations and individuals the Government says have enabled threats against dissidents overseas, supported destabilising activity in the Middle East and helped generate revenue for the Iranian regime. Ministers said the action was partly a response to Iran’s use of criminal gangs to carry out threats beyond its borders.

The Government said the measures also relate to Iranian activity in the Strait of Hormuz, where it accused Tehran of disrupting freedom of navigation and the global economy. The package has been aligned with action taken by the EU and forms part of a wider UK response to state threats from Iran.

STORY

A newly elected Reform UK councillor has resigned from his council seats just days after being elected in Essex. Stuart Prior won seats on both Essex County Council and Rochford District Council in last week’s local elections, but has now stepped down following allegations about racist and Islamophobic social media posts.

Prior was elected for the Rayleigh West division on Essex County Council and for the Sweyne Park and Grange ward on Rochford District Council. ITV reported that he had also been expelled from Reform UK, while The Independent said a Reform source stated that Prior had resigned from his elected positions for “personal reasons” and that his party membership had been revoked. The news will come as a challenge for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK which has faced a series of hate speech scandals over recent days.

STORY

The Government is to introduce new legislation giving ministers the option to bring British Steel into public ownership, subject to a public interest test. The powers will be announced in the King’s Speech on Wednesday and could allow British Steel to return to Government ownership for the first time since it was sold off in 1988.

Ministers said the legislation would provide a route to safeguard UK steelmaking capacity and avoid a sudden halt in production at Scunthorpe. The Government intervened at British Steel in April 2025 under the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act to keep production running and prevent the closure of the blast furnaces, which it said could have disrupted supply chains and put thousands of jobs at risk.

The Department for Business and Trade said talks had continued with British Steel’s current owner, but that it had not been possible to agree a commercial sale on terms that would deliver acceptable value for money for taxpayers. Any decision to use the new powers would depend on the public interest test, including factors such as national security, critical national infrastructure and support for the economy.

STORY

The UK has announced sanctions against 85 individuals and entities accused of supporting hostile Russian activity, including the forced deportation, indoctrination and militarisation of Ukrainian children. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said the measures also target those involved in Russian information warfare campaigns and attempts to undermine democratic processes abroad.

The latest sanctions include 29 targets linked to what the Government described as Russia’s systematic campaign to deport and militarise Ukrainian children. A further 56 designations target people and organisations accused of supporting Kremlin-backed information operations. The Government said more than 20,000 Ukrainian children had been forcibly transferred or deported to Russia and temporarily occupied territories.

Among those sanctioned is the Centre for Military Sports Training and Patriotic Education of Youth, known as the Warrior Centre, which the UK says subjects Ukrainian children to military training and pro-Kremlin ideology. Yulia Sergeevna Velichko, Minister for Youth Policy in the so-called “Luhansk People’s Republic”, has also been sanctioned over her alleged role in programmes linked to deportation, indoctrination and the issuing of Russian passports to children from occupied areas.

The UK has also targeted 49 people working for the Social Design Agency, which the Government says has been funded by the Kremlin to conduct interference operations designed to weaken democracy and reduce support for Ukraine. Ministers said the agency had planned campaigns aimed at creating pro-Russia organisations in Armenia and influencing domestic politics there.

STORY

Tarandip “Tammy” Kaur Sandhu MBE has been appointed as His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Holy See, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has announced. She will succeed Christopher John Trott CVO, who is moving to another Diplomatic Service appointment.

Sandhu is due to take up the role in August 2026. She has been undertaking pre-posting training, including Italian language training, since 2025, ahead of the appointment.

Her previous diplomatic posts include His Majesty’s Consul General in San Francisco from 2023 to 2025, and Deputy Consul General in San Francisco from 2021 to 2023. She has also served in Chennai as Deputy Head of Mission and Head of Department for International Trade, in Brussels as Deputy Spokesperson at the UK Permanent Representation to the EU, and in Rabat as Second Secretary for political and economic affairs.

STORY

Sir Keir Starmer has said he will not “walk away” from what he called a battle for the “soul of the nation”, as he attempted to reassert his authority after Labour’s poor performance in last week’s local elections. In a major speech in London, the Prime Minister accepted that the Government had to move faster and prove its critics wrong, but rejected suggestions that he should stand aside.

The speech came amid growing pressure inside Labour following the party’s losses to Reform UK, the Greens and other opponents. Starmer warned that Britain could go down a “very dark path” if mainstream politics failed to respond to public anger, and argued that Labour had to offer a stronger alternative rather than imitate Nigel Farage’s party.

Starmer said his Government would focus on practical measures to improve living standards, rebuild public services and restore trust in politics. He also pointed to closer cooperation with the European Union, including a proposed youth mobility scheme, while insisting that the UK would not rejoin the EU. The Prime Minister framed the approach as part of a wider effort to give voters a sense of hope and economic security.

The speech also included a pledge to bring British Steel into public ownership if required, with new legislation expected in the King’s Speech on Wednesday. Ministers said the move would give the Government the option to take British Steel into national ownership as part of efforts to protect the industry and support domestic production.

STORY

The new Cambridge South railway station will open to passengers on Sunday 28 June 2026, the Government has announced. The station, which has been backed by £250 million of Government funding, will serve the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and provide direct rail access to one of Europe’s largest medical research facilities.

The Department for Transport said the station is expected to handle around 1.8 million passengers a year. It will offer up to nine trains an hour to Cambridge city centre, as well as services to London, Birmingham and Stansted Airport. The Government said up to 20 services will call at Cambridge South during peak hours, improving access for workers, visitors and businesses linked to the Biomedical Campus.

The station will be the first new station to carry Great British Railways branding, as the Government continues its rail reform and public ownership programme. Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy said the project would improve access to jobs, homes and “world-class facilities”, while Network Rail chief executive Jeremy Westlake said the station would provide better connections across the UK and beyond.

STORY

Angela Rayner has warned that Labour must urgently change direction after what she described as a “historic defeat” in the local elections, saying the party is in danger of becoming “a party of the well-off, not working people”.

The former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party said many Labour councillors had lost their seats despite working hard for their communities, while the party had also lost council administrations and missed opportunities for further gains. She said the results showed that the Government’s current approach was not working and that Labour may now be facing its “last chance” to respond.

Rayner said the cost of living had been the dominant issue raised by voters, arguing that people had turned to “populists and nationalists” because Labour had not done enough to address pressure on household finances. She said living standards were barely higher than they had been a decade and a half ago, while ordinary people continued to feel that the economic system was “rigged against them”.

Her comments represent a direct challenge to the Prime Minister and the direction of the Government. Rayner criticised decisions such as cutting winter fuel allowance and said the Peter Mandelson scandal had exposed what she called a “toxic culture of cronyism”. She argued that Labour needed to return to its purpose as the party of working people and take faster action to make voters materially better off.

STORY

Journalist Kevin Schofield has reported that Reform UK have not suspended Glenn Gibbins following the serious allegations made against him, distancing themselves from the comments made by Darren Grimes that he had been.

Schofield posted on X:

“Glenn Gibbins has NOT been suspended, despite claims by Reform councillor Darren Grimes. Party spokesman: “The investigation is still ongoing. No decision has been made yet.”“

Further allegations have now been made against Gibbins for engaging in hate speech, with Reform UK saying that they will investigate the matter. Darren Grimes has yet to comment on the snub from Reform UK.