Tag: News Story

STORY

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has visited HMNB Devonport in Plymouth as the Government prepares to invest £7.1 billion in upgrading the naval base and dockyard. Devonport, described by the Ministry of Defence as the largest naval base in Western Europe, is the only UK facility responsible for the deep maintenance and defuelling of the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarine fleet. During the visit, Streeting met Royal Navy personnel and industry workers and viewed facilities being constructed to support future submarine operations.

Plymouth is also due to become home to the Royal Navy’s new Type 26 frigates, while around £500 million has been committed through the Defence Investment Plan to modernise the UK Commando Forces. This will include new high speed boats, drones and autonomous technology. The Devonport programme forms part of Royal Oak, a £26 billion ten year programme to modernise naval infrastructure which the Government says is the largest of its kind since the end of the Cold War.

A further £50 million is being invested in defence projects in Plymouth and the South West through the Plymouth Growth Deal, with the Government saying the funding will support hundreds of jobs and help defence companies develop new technology. Streeting said Devonport was critical to national security and would remain central to British naval power as the Type 26 fleet arrives. Defence Readiness and Industry Minister Luke Pollard, the MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said continued investment in submarines and surface ships would also support jobs and skills in the city.

STORY

Homelessness charity Crisis has criticised Reform UK proposals to remove foreign nationals from social housing and give greater priority to British born workers under the age of 35. Reform has also proposed prioritising married couples with children. Crisis said the changes would not address the underlying shortage of social housing and risked excluding people already facing housing insecurity.

Francesca Albanese, Director of Policy and Social Change at Crisis, said access to social housing for non UK nationals was already heavily restricted and that the overwhelming majority of social tenants were UK citizens. She argued that record waiting lists were primarily the result of too few social homes being built. Crisis cited research suggesting that around 90,000 new social homes a year would be needed to end homelessness in England.

The charity also criticised proposals that could exclude people from social housing because they were not in work. Crisis said this could affect older people, disabled people and carers, noting that nearly half of households moving into social housing include someone with a long term illness or disability. Albanese said increasing the supply of social housing, rather than restricting eligibility further, was the necessary response to the housing crisis.

STORY

UK productivity has been growing at an average annual rate of 1.1% over the past two years, according to new analysis from the Resolution Foundation which argues that official figures are understating the improvement. The think tank said its alternative measure showed productivity growth since the third quarter of 2024 had exceeded the average recorded in the late 2010s, while official Office for National Statistics data indicated a 0.2% fall over the same period.

The Foundation said it developed an alternative measure because of continuing problems with the ONS Labour Force Survey following the pandemic, instead using HMRC payroll data and tax returns from self employment. Its analysis found that 12 of 19 sectors had experienced stronger productivity growth over the past two years, including information and communications, retail, science, transport and health. It said the improvement had largely come from higher productivity within individual sectors rather than workers moving out of lower productivity industries such as retail and hospitality.

The report also cautioned against attributing the improvement primarily to artificial intelligence. Although the proportion of businesses reporting some use of AI has doubled from 23% in late 2023 to 46% in June 2026, only around one in 20 businesses said they were using it extensively. Resolution Foundation principal economist Simon Pittaway said the recent improvement was welcome but would need to be sustained if it was to produce significantly stronger economic growth and higher living standards

STORY

More than half of Britons believe their confidence in the Government protecting people’s right to express views it disagrees with has worsened over the past two years, according to polling commissioned by civil liberties organisation Liberty. The survey found 51% said their confidence had declined, while 10% believed it had improved. Liberty said the findings showed growing public concern about free expression in Britain.

The polling also found that 39% thought their ability to speak freely on important issues had worsened, while 42% believed it had become harder to express controversial political opinions without facing legal consequences. A further 39% said their understanding of what is and is not permitted under UK law had deteriorated. Liberty linked the decline in confidence to recent controversies including restrictions on protest, travel bans imposed on some overseas speakers and arrests connected with support for proscribed group Palestine Action.

Liberty is calling on the new Prime Minister to take what it described as a more consistent and non partisan approach to free speech, arguing that laws governing expression should be applied consistently across the political spectrum. Liberty director Akiko Hart said the findings should be regarded as a warning and argued that confidence in the right to disagree was important to a healthy democracy.

STORY

Citizens Advice has criticised Royal Mail after the company failed to meet its reduced delivery targets for both first and second class post between April and June 2026. The charity said late deliveries continued to cause problems for people waiting for medical appointments, benefit decisions and bills, despite changes introduced by Ofcom which lowered the standards Royal Mail is required to meet.

From 1 April, Royal Mail’s annual target for first class post was reduced from 93% to 90% of letters being delivered within one working day, while the target for second class post was lowered from 98.5% to 95% within three days. Citizens Advice said Royal Mail had not met any of its annual delivery targets for the past six years, while the price of a first class stamp had risen by 137% and a second class stamp by 40% over the same period.

Tom MacInnes, Director of Policy at Citizens Advice, said it was not acceptable that Royal Mail had indicated it could take until next spring to meet the new targets. The charity is calling on Ofcom to consider using caps on stamp prices, arguing that previous fines for poor performance have had little effect. Changes to the Universal Service Obligation also mean second class post is moving to delivery on alternate weekdays, with full implementation expected at all delivery offices by December.

STORY

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has travelled to Kyiv for his first overseas visit since taking office, as Ukraine marks the 35th anniversary of its independence. Burnham is expected to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and take part in Independence Day events, with the Government saying the visit is intended to reaffirm continued UK support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

During the visit, Burnham announced that the Government has agreed to allow defence company MBDA to release classified information about British components used in the SCALP long range missile. SCALP is the French produced version of the UK’s Storm Shadow missile and uses shared British and French technology. The move is intended to allow France and Ukraine to progress plans to establish missile assembly lines inside Ukraine.

Burnham is also due to co chair a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing alongside other international leaders gathered in Kyiv. The Government said the UK has committed £25 billion in support to Ukraine since Russia’s full scale invasion, including £16 billion in military assistance and £5.6 billion in non military support. The Kremlin criticised the missile announcement on Monday, accusing Britain of escalating its involvement in the conflict.

STORY

Norwich Airport will close to all air traffic on Friday 28 August because of a 24 hour strike by air traffic control staff. The airport has confirmed that no flights will operate to or from Norwich during the closure and has advised passengers due to travel that day to check directly with their airline for information about cancellations and alternative arrangements.

The strike has been called by Prospect as part of a dispute over pay, terms and conditions. The union said air traffic control employees are seeking pay and employment conditions comparable with colleagues elsewhere in the country. Action short of a strike began on 17 August and includes staff working strictly to contract, refusing non contractual overtime, declining shift swaps and withdrawing goodwill.

The dispute has already caused disruption at Norwich, including a five hour closure on 21 August and the cancellation of flights to Amsterdam and Aberdeen. Norwich Airport said it apologised for the disruption caused by the planned full day closure and remained committed to negotiations with Prospect aimed at reaching an agreement.

STORY

Serious violent and sexual offenders released from prison are to face new geographical restrictions limiting them to designated areas, with GPS technology used to monitor their movements. The Government plans to introduce the tighter restriction zones from September, allowing probation services to confine some offenders to areas only a few miles across where the restrictions are considered necessary and proportionate.

The measures go further than existing exclusion zones, which prevent offenders entering particular locations such as a victim’s home or workplace. Under the new approach, an offender can instead be prohibited from leaving a defined area. Victims will be able to contribute to decisions about boundaries, while the zones must still allow offenders to attend appointments and access services intended to reduce the risk of reoffending.

The Sentencing Act 2026 provides powers for additional licence conditions including restriction zones, bans on driving, prohibitions on attending public events and restrictions on entering pubs, clubs and bars. Offenders who breach licence conditions can be recalled to prison. Justice Secretary Alex Norris said the changes were intended to reduce the risk of victims unexpectedly encountering the people who harmed them.

STORY

The Government has briefed energy company executives on measures to protect infrastructure following reports that hackers linked to Iran forced a small British energy generator offline for four days. The incident was reported to have taken place in July, although the Government has not confirmed who was responsible or disclosed the location or identity of the affected facility.

Energy Minister Michael Shanks said the Government and industry had taken the incident seriously and were working with regulators and the National Cyber Security Centre to assess threats and strengthen protection. He said the generator involved was very small compared with what would normally be regarded as a power station and stressed that there had been no threat to the wider electricity grid.

The Department for Energy said nobody lost power as a result of the incident and described the UK energy network as highly resilient. The reports were published by the Financial Times and Daily Telegraph, which attributed the attack to hackers linked to Iran. The Iranian embassy in London had not commented on the allegations when approached by Reuters.

STORY

The UK Government has agreed that defence company MBDA can release classified information about British components used in the SCALP long range missile as part of plans to establish assembly lines in Ukraine. Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced the move during a visit to Kyiv on 24 August, his first overseas trip since becoming Prime Minister, as Ukraine marked the 35th anniversary of its independence.

SCALP is the French produced version of the UK’s Storm Shadow missile and the two systems use shared British and French technology. The Government said releasing the information would allow France and Ukraine to move forward with plans for Ukrainian assembly of the weapon. The measure will sit alongside Project Brakestop, the UK programme intended to develop lower cost advanced long range strike weapons for Ukraine.

Burnham was also due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and co chair his first meeting of the Coalition of the Willing while in Kyiv. The Government said the UK has committed £25 billion in support to Ukraine since Russia’s full scale invasion, including £16 billion in military assistance and £5.6 billion in non military support.