Tag: News Story

STORY

The UK Government has announced a 1 billion dollar tranche of fiscal support for Ukraine through World Bank backed financing. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy confirmed the package during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk. The Government said the UK backed funding would help unlock more than 4 billion dollars in additional financing to support hospitals, schools and essential public services in Ukraine.

The support forms part of a previously announced 5 billion dollar loan guarantee commitment. The Government also said a separate package worth almost 290 million pounds would support Ukraine’s recovery, energy security, judicial reform and anti corruption work.

STORY

Twelve projects aimed at changing how obesity care is delivered across the UK will receive up to 85 million pounds in funding from Government and industry.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department of Health and Social Care said the programme will test new ways to improve access to care, including artificial intelligence triage, virtual advice and new neighbourhood support hubs.

The funding includes up to 50 million pounds from Government and up to 35 million pounds from Eli Lilly and Company. Ministers said the projects are intended to support people in areas where access to obesity care is limited and to provide evidence for future services.

STORY

Southport has been chosen to host the national Armed Forces Day event in 2027, the Ministry of Defence has announced.

The announcement was made as tens of thousands of people attended events across the country to mark Armed Forces Day. The national event for 2026 was held in Aldershot, where Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis joined serving personnel, veterans, reservists, cadets and their families.

The Ministry of Defence said more than 230 events took place across the UK. Southport will receive 50000 pounds of event funding, as well as access to military assets and planning support for next year’s national event.

STORY

Matthew Torbitt, a political commentator and GB News pundit, has been charged with two counts of fraud relating to his time working as a Labour adviser.

The Crown Prosecution Service alleges that Torbitt made false travel and accommodation claims while working with MPs between 2018 and 2024. The Guardian reported that the allegations include use of the parliamentary travel system to obtain rail tickets and the submission of false expenses claims.

The Metropolitan Police investigation began after a report of unauthorised travel bookings in April 2025. Torbitt is due to appear at Thames Magistrates’ Court on 27 July.

STORY

A dispute inside the Home Office has intensified after Shabana Mahmood sought to restrict Mike Tapp’s access to papers and called for him to be removed from his post as migration minister.

The row followed an article by Tapp in The Times on settlement rights for migrant care workers. The Guardian reported that Mahmood viewed the intervention as unauthorised and as an attempt to claim work that was being developed by her department.

Downing Street has said Keir Starmer is taking advice on whether ministerial rules were breached. The episode comes during the transition period before an expected Burnham premiership and has added to questions about discipline inside the outgoing Government.

STORY

A man who carried out a series of robberies and attacks across the London Underground has had his sentence increased after the Solicitor General referred the case to the Court of Appeal.

Adel Kerari, of Hammersmith and Fulham, London, was originally sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on 9 January 2025 to two years and eight months’ imprisonment for six counts of robbery and one count of fraud. His sentence was increased on Thursday 25 June 2026 to three years and nine months following a referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

The court heard that Kerari and other gang members targeted commuters across the London Underground during a two week period in June 2023. Victims were robbed, assaulted and stabbed at stations including Holborn, Russell Square, Leicester Square, Goldhawk Road and Leyton.

On one day, Kerari and his gang attacked and robbed one woman and two men in three separate incidents at Underground stations. The victims had phones stolen, along with wallets and bank cards, and two of them were stabbed. In total, seven people were targeted in six separate incidents.

Solicitor General Ellie Reeves said Kerari had targeted lone passengers in a spree of violence and welcomed the Court of Appeal’s decision to increase the sentence. She said violent criminals and gangs threatened the safety of towns and cities, and that she would pursue action to ensure sentences reflected the seriousness of violent crimes.

British Transport Police Detective Sergeant Tony Gittins said Kerari was a dangerous and violent criminal who had launched a series of robberies across the London Underground. Transport for London said the offences were serious and violent, adding that it continued to work with police to tackle robbery and violent crime across the network.

STORY

Sir John Major has called for Britain to rejoin the European Union’s single market within five years, arguing that the country must be honest about the economic damage caused by Brexit and the choices now required to restore growth and stability.

The former Conservative Prime Minister made the intervention in an interview with The Independent to mark the tenth anniversary of the 2016 referendum. He said the next stage of Britain’s relationship with Europe should be based on practical national interest rather than political slogans, with single market membership forming a central objective for the years ahead.

Major said that rejoining the single market would carry a price, including difficult political trade-offs, but argued that ministers should be open with the public about both the gains and the obligations. His comments presented closer European alignment not as a return to old arguments, but as a route to repairing trade links, reducing barriers for business and restoring Britain’s influence with its nearest neighbours.

The intervention is significant because Major remains one of the most experienced Conservative voices on Europe, having negotiated through difficult European debates during his own premiership. His remarks will strengthen those arguing that Britain’s economic future depends on a more constructive settlement with the EU, particularly as businesses continue to raise concerns about post-Brexit costs, paperwork and lost opportunities.

The Government has sought to improve relations with Brussels, but has previously ruled out returning to the single market, the customs union or freedom of movement. Major’s intervention challenges that position by arguing that a more ambitious approach is now needed, and that political leaders should make the case for closer European ties with clarity and confidence.

Supporters of closer UK-EU relations are likely to see Major’s comments as a serious and timely contribution from a former Prime Minister who has long warned about the consequences of Brexit. His call places economic realism at the centre of the debate and suggests that the question for Britain is no longer whether Brexit created problems, but how boldly the country is prepared to address them.

STORY

The Government has announced a $1 billion tranche of UK-backed finance for Ukraine through the World Bank. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said the funding would support Ukraine’s resilience and recovery by helping to keep essential public services operating during the war.

The Government said the UK-backed package would help unlock more than $4 billion in additional financing when pooled with support from international partners. Lammy made the announcement while leading the UK delegation to the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk.

The package sits alongside a further recovery and energy security package announced by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper worth almost £290 million. Ministers said the funding would support public services, economic growth and Ukraine’s long-term reconstruction.

STORY

Great British Energy – Nuclear has announced that the new nuclear plant next to the Wylfa site on Anglesey will be called Gwyndod Power Station. The name was chosen after hundreds of local suggestions and a panel involving young people from Ynys Môn.

The panel was chaired by Ynys Môn MP Llinos Medi and Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens. The Government said the name reflected the identity and heritage of the island, with Gwyndod derived from the old name for the region’s dialect, Gwyndodeg.

Stevens said the UK Government was bringing nuclear back to Ynys Môn and referred to investment of more than £2.5 billion in the site. Great British Energy – Nuclear said the project was intended to support skilled jobs and provide clean, reliable power for the future.

STORY

Cambridge South station will open to passengers from Sunday 28 June after a £250 million Government-backed project. The Department for Transport said the station would provide direct rail access to Cambridge Biomedical Campus and improve links to London, Stansted and Birmingham Airport.

The Government said the station is expected to welcome around 1.8 million passengers a year and provide up to nine trains an hour to Cambridge city centre and beyond. Ministers said journey times from London King’s Cross to the biomedical campus would fall to a single 45-minute direct journey.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the investment would improve access to jobs and opportunities. The station is also connected to cycle routes and the guided busway, with 1,000 cycle spaces and blue badge bays included in the scheme.