Category: News Story

STORY

The Government has announced a £4.6 billion contract with Italy and Japan to support development of a next generation combat aircraft. Ministers said the agreement marked a major step in the trilateral programme to bring a sixth generation fighter jet into service from 2035.

The contract forms part of the Global Combat Air Programme and follows the Government’s Defence Investment Plan. The UK has said it will invest £8.6 billion in the programme over four years, with ministers linking the project to national security, industrial capacity and highly skilled jobs.

The programme is designed to replace the Typhoon and strengthen co operation with key defence partners. The Government said the contract would support British industry and help maintain the UK’s role in advanced combat air technology.

STORY

United States Vice President JD Vance has opened a new diplomatic incident after saying Britain has been failed by its political leadership for a long time, as Washington prepares to work with another UK Prime Minister. Vance’s comments come after chaotic 250 year anniversary celebrations in the US and serious allegations about corruption and fraud in the Trump administration.

Vance said he hoped the next UK Prime Minister would be able to deliver the structural change that voters wanted. He also said the United States would continue to value the UK relationship and work closely with whoever leads the Government.

The comments follow earlier criticism from President Donald Trump, who described Burnham as extremely liberal and questioned UK energy policy. Downing Street has sought to maintain close relations with Washington despite differences over energy, Ukraine, Gaza and wider foreign policy.

STORY

Andy Burnham has ruled out calling an early general election if he becomes Prime Minister later this month, saying Labour already has a mandate from the 2024 general election. The Prime Minister in waiting said he would focus on delivering change rather than immediately returning the country to the polls.

Burnham has also said he wants to establish a stronger presence for central Government outside London, including a proposed “Number 10 North” in Greater Manchester. He has presented the idea as part of a wider plan to shift power away from Whitehall and towards regions and local areas.

The comments are intended to reassure Labour MPs and markets that the leadership transition will not be followed by an immediate election campaign. Opposition parties are continuing to argue that a change of Prime Minister without a general election would deny voters a direct say.

STORY

Ukrainian drones struck the St Petersburg region overnight in a major long range attack on Russian energy and military infrastructure, according to Russian officials and Ukrainian sources. The assault hit an oil terminal in St Petersburg and the Baltic Sea port of Vysotsk in the surrounding Leningrad region, as Kyiv continued its campaign against facilities linked to Russia’s war effort.

St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said the city had come under a large scale drone attack, although he did not identify specific targets. Local reports cited by Reuters said a fire had broken out at the city’s oil terminal, while Leningrad regional Governor Alexander Drozdenko said drones had struck the port of Vysotsk, around 105 miles north west of St Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland.

Drozdenko said 72 drones had been shot down over the Leningrad region. Russian officials also reported further drone activity south of St Petersburg, with the governor of Pskov region saying more than 30 drones had been intercepted overnight and that there had been minor damage and injuries, including at a factory in Velikiye Luki.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine had carried out strikes on Russian targets in the region. He said the operation had included attacks on an oil terminal and a military site in Kronstadt, a naval base west of St Petersburg.

The attack forms part of Ukraine’s wider strategy of using long range drones against Russian energy infrastructure, fuel supplies and military facilities. Ukraine has described such operations as a way of imposing costs on Russia for its continuing invasion, while Russia has accused Kyiv of targeting civilian and industrial sites inside its territory.

STORY

The Government has appointed Bill Butler as the first chair of the Local Audit Office, the new body being established to strengthen oversight of local public audit. Public Finance reported that the appointment brings decades of public sector leadership experience to the organisation.

The Local Audit Office is intended to help address long running concerns over delays and capacity in local authority audit. Ministers have faced pressure to improve the timeliness and reliability of council accounts after years of backlogs across the sector.

The appointment is part of wider reform of the local audit system in England. Councils, auditors and finance professionals have argued that a stronger framework is needed to restore confidence in local public financial reporting.

STORY

The Council of the EU has adopted its position on a regulation to allow online service providers to resume voluntary detection and removal of child sexual abuse material. The measure is intended to bridge a legal gap while longer term EU legislation on the issue remains under negotiation.

The proposal would create a temporary derogation from data protection rules in the electronic communications

sector. The Council said voluntary detection, reporting and removal by providers helped identify victims, support investigations and reduce the spread of abusive material online.

The previous interim measure expired on 3 April 2026 and the Council wants the replacement to run until 3 April 2028. The European Parliament will now examine the Council position at second reading and may approve, amend or reject it.

STORY

The Council of the EU has imposed restrictive measures on six Russian individuals over alleged involvement in the development of chemical weapons. The Council said the decision was linked to substances found in samples taken from Alexei Navalny’s body after his death in a Russian penal colony.

The individuals listed include scientists and researchers in the military sphere, with some linked to work on epibatidine. The Council said EU measures under the chemical weapons sanctions regime now applied to 31 individuals and six entities.

Those listed are subject to asset freezes and travel bans, while EU operators are prohibited from making funds or economic resources available to them. The Council said the EU remained committed to countering the use and proliferation of chemical weapons.

STORY

The European Commission has proposed five major cross-border defence projects intended to strengthen cooperation between member states and partners on complex military capabilities. The proposals include drone and counter-drone systems, an eastern flank project, maritime and seabed defence, air and missile defence and space-based defence capabilities.

Reuters reported that the projects fall under the European Defence Projects of Common Interest framework and involve EU member states, Norway and Ukraine. The Commission said the aim was to improve long term collaboration and strengthen the competitiveness of Europe’s defence industry.

The proposals now require approval by the Council of the EU. The Commission has allocated initial funding through the European Defence Industry Programme, with larger investments expected over the longer term if the projects move forward.

STORY

The Trade Remedies Authority has opened an anti-dumping investigation into imports of Linear Low-Density Polyethylene from the United States. The investigation will examine whether imports of the product are being dumped in the UK and whether they are causing injury to domestic industry.

Linear Low-Density Polyethylene is used in a range of plastic products and packaging applications. Trade remedy investigations can lead to duties where dumped or subsidised imports are found to damage UK producers.

The authority said the investigation had been opened through its public file system. Its recommendations are made independently before being considered by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade where final decisions are required.

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HM Revenue and Customs has published an update to its Transformation Roadmap, saying 5.6 million taxpayers checked their pay in the HMRC app a total of 100 million times last year. The department said the figure was equivalent to an average of 18 checks per user across the year.

HMRC said the app had 7.6 million unique users in 2025 to 2026, including 2.8 million new users. The department said digital services were increasingly being used as part of its wider effort to modernise how taxpayers interact with the tax system.

Exchequer Secretary Daniel Tomlinson said the Government wanted to make tax easier to understand and simpler to engage with. HMRC said its transformation programme remained on track, with outdated communications being phased out.