Tag: News Story

STORY

Richard Hermer has left Government as Andy Burnham begins reshaping his ministerial team after replacing Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister. Hermer had served as Attorney General since July 2024 and was one of the most prominent legal figures brought into Government by Starmer after Labour’s general election victory.

The move forms part of a wider clear-out of senior figures associated with Starmer’s administration. David Lammy, Steve Reed, Rachel Reeves and Peter Kyle were also among those leaving Government as Burnham moved quickly to assemble his own team on his first day in Downing Street.

Hermer’s departure is politically significant because the Attorney General is the Government’s principal legal adviser and oversees bodies including the Crown Prosecution Service, the Serious Fraud Office and the Government Legal Department. The office also has public interest functions, including references of unduly lenient sentences and interventions in certain legal proceedings.

Hermer was appointed Attorney General on 5 July 2024, shortly after Starmer entered Downing Street. A barrister who was called to the Bar in 1993 and took silk in 2009, he had previously been head of chambers at Matrix and had served as a deputy High Court judge.

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Lord Timpson has stepped down as prisons minister after it has been reported that Andy Burnham decided not to keep him in the role as part of his first Government reshuffle. The businessman and prison reform campaigner became the first ministerial departure on the day Burnham took over from Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.

Timpson was appointed Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending in July 2024 after leaving his role as chief executive of the Timpson Group. His appointment was seen as one of Starmer’s more unusual early ministerial choices because of his long record of employing former prisoners and campaigning for rehabilitation.

The Times reported that Burnham had decided to free up the prisons brief for a Labour MP as he builds his new ministerial team. Timpson is expected to return to the family business, which is best known for key cutting, shoe repairs and other high street services.

Confirming his departure, Timpson said it had been an honour to serve as minister for prisons, probation and reducing reoffending. He said he was leaving with the prison and probation service in a “much healthier and happier state” than when he took office two years ago.

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The Government has announced more than £62 million in funding for British businesses, universities and researchers to develop homegrown space technology. Ministers said the investment would strengthen national resilience, improve satellite communications and help protect the UK’s independence in a strategically important sector.

The funding was announced by Space Minister Liz Lloyd at the Farnborough International Airshow on Monday 20 July 2026. The UK Space Agency said the money would support new satellite communications systems, space innovation projects and technologies designed to help monitor and protect assets in orbit.

The Government said space-based services were increasingly important to daily life and national security, including broadband for remote communities and mobile connectivity on trains, aircraft and ships. Ministers said building more domestic capability would reduce dependence on overseas technologies and strengthen Britain’s ability to act independently. The package includes £42 million for the Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit programme, known as C-LEO. The programme is opening its third funding round for UK businesses, universities and research organisations developing satellite communications technology.

Projects applying for C-LEO funding must focus on at least one of five areas: on-board processing, active antennas, optical links, networking and routing, or user terminals. The latest round will bring total C-LEO funding for UK organisations to up to £77 million. A further £20 million will be made available through the National Space Innovation Programme. The funding call will support industry, universities and research organisations, with projects due to begin in April 2027.

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Thames Water could run out of money before the end of 2026 unless it secures further financial support, placing renewed pressure on the Government to decide whether the troubled utility should enter special administration. The company supplies water and wastewater services to about 16 million customers across London and the Thames Valley.

The company said it had £588 million of liquidity available at the end of June, consisting of £515 million in cash and £73 million from an undrawn loan facility. It said that, with the continuing support of creditors, it had sufficient funding only until the final quarter of 2026.

Reports suggest the company could become insolvent as early as November if a longer-term rescue agreement is not reached. Thames Water has accumulated debts of about £20 billion following years of borrowing, underinvestment and criticism of its environmental and operational performance.

A consortium of creditors has proposed a rescue package involving £3.35 billion of new equity and billions of pounds of further borrowing. The plan would also write off a substantial portion of the company’s debt and introduce a programme intended to improve performance and infrastructure.

The proposal has proved politically controversial because creditors have sought concessions over regulatory penalties and other liabilities. Ministers have expressed concern that any agreement must protect customers and the environment rather than provide an overly generous settlement for investors.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham is reported to be considering placing Thames Water into the Special Administration Regime, which would allow essential services to continue while the company was restructured or transferred to new ownership. The process would represent the first use of the special water administration arrangements for a major British utility.

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Cardiff businesswoman Rupali Wagh has been jailed after fraudulently claiming £216,250 from the Covid Bounce Back Loan Scheme across four companies. The Insolvency Service said Wagh secured five loans between May and September 2020 by inflating company turnover figures, obtaining duplicate loans and using public funds for personal purposes.

Wagh, of Harrison Way, Cardiff, pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud at Cardiff Crown Court in November 2025. She was jailed for two years and three months when she appeared at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on Friday 17 July 2026.

The 50-year-old made her first fraudulent application in May 2020 for One2Four Accounting Ltd, a bookkeeping company she had set up in 2018. She claimed the company had a turnover of £65,000, although its actual turnover for the previous calendar year was £39,000.

After receiving the £16,250 loan, Wagh transferred the money into her personal bank account. The Insolvency Service said she spent most of it paying off debts and buying stocks and shares.

The following month, Wagh applied for a £50,000 loan for Talensetu UK Ltd. She claimed the business had a turnover of £218,000, even though dormant accounts filed by the company showed that it was not trading.

Within days of receiving the money, Wagh transferred the full £50,000 into her personal account. The Insolvency Service said she spent the money on personal finance and stocks and shares, and transferred more than £25,000 to an account in India.

Wagh then applied for a second £50,000 Bounce Back Loan for Talensetu UK Ltd in July 2020, using a different bank. She falsely declared that this was the company’s only application under the scheme.

A fourth fraudulent application followed in August 2020, when Wagh sought £50,000 for White Coconut Ltd, which traded as an Indian street food outlet in Cardiff. The Insolvency Service said she claimed a turnover of £252,000, contradicting a £72,000 estimate she had provided on a bank account application.

Her final fraudulent application came in September 2020 for Indian Canteen Ltd, another street food business. She claimed the company had a turnover of £206,000, despite previously estimating turnover of £82,000 on a bank account application.

David Snasdell, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said Wagh had systematically targeted a scheme designed to help genuine businesses survive the pandemic. He said she lied about turnover, obtained duplicate loans for the same businesses and used the money to pay off personal debts and buy stocks and shares.

The Insolvency Service said Wagh initially tried to blame a third party for one of the loan applications, claiming someone else using her computer had made the application without her knowledge. She later retracted the claim and accepted that she had acted alone.

Wagh admitted using the funds to clear personal credit card debts and loans, saying she believed that paying off her personal debts would help her businesses. The Insolvency Service is now seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

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Andy Burnham is taking office as Prime Minister today after Sir Keir Starmer formally resigned to King Charles III, completing one of the most significant mid-Parliament transfers of power in recent years. Burnham, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, became Labour leader after standing unopposed and securing overwhelming support from Labour MPs.

The changeover follows Starmer’s decision to stand down after a period of falling confidence inside the Labour Party and wider political pressure on his Government. Starmer led Labour to a landslide general election victory in 2024, but his premiership ended before the completion of a full Parliament.

Burnham will take office without a general election because Labour still commands a majority in the House of Commons. Under the UK’s parliamentary system, the monarch appoints as Prime Minister the person most likely to command the confidence of the Commons, which in this case is the newly elected Labour leader.

Starmer is expected to make a final statement outside Downing Street before travelling to Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation. Burnham will then meet the King and be invited to form a Government, before returning to Downing Street to make his first speech as Prime Minister.

The ceremonial transfer will be swift, but the political change is substantial. Burnham becomes the seventh Prime Minister since 2016, continuing a period of unusually rapid turnover at the top of British politics.

In his first remarks, Burnham is expected to acknowledge the instability of recent years and promise a more stable and less divisive style of Government. He has also signalled that cost-of-living support will be an early priority, alongside a longer-term programme for economic renewal.

Markets were calm ahead of the transition, with sterling remaining steady as investors waited for confirmation of Burnham’s senior appointments. Reuters reported that attention was particularly focused on his choice of Chancellor, with speculation around Shabana Mahmood helping reassure investors expecting a disciplined approach to public spending.

Burnham inherits a difficult economic and political position, including sluggish growth, pressure on public services and the need to rebuild public confidence after another change of Prime Minister without a general election. He will also face immediate questions over taxation, spending, public sector reform and Labour’s response to Reform UK’s advance.

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London Mayor Sadiq Khan is among 26 people nominated for life peerages in a new list issued shortly before Sir Keir Starmer leaves Downing Street. The appointments include Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat nominees as well as crossbenchers drawn from public services, trade unions, business and the voluntary sector.

Khan is expected to remain focused on his role at City Hall and has reportedly indicated that he does not currently want a ministerial post in Andy Burnham’s Government. The timing of the list has nevertheless renewed debate about prime ministerial patronage and the size of the unelected second chamber, particularly as Burnham has previously advocated replacing it with a body representing the nations and regions.

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Incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham has confirmed that the Government’s proposed national digital identity scheme will be abandoned as part of what his team described as a reset of priorities. The programme had originally been presented as a way to strengthen right to work checks and tackle illegal employment, but its scope was reduced after opposition over cost, privacy and whether participation should be compulsory.

The Office for Budget Responsibility had estimated spending of around £1.8 billion between 2026-27 and 2028-29, although ending the programme will not necessarily release the whole amount for other uses. Burnham has said attention and resources should instead be directed towards the cost of living, while existing documents and digital systems will continue to be used for employment checks.

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The Government has confirmed local government reorganisation decisions affecting 14 more areas in England, including Kent and Medway, Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire, Staffordshire and Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. Ministers said the changes would replace fragmented two-tier structures with stronger unitary councils.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said 134 councils would be streamlined into 38 unitary authorities. Ministers argued that the reforms would reduce duplication, improve accountability and create better foundations for devolution and economic growth.

Council leaders have warned that reorganisation will involve major transition risks, particularly for adult social care, children’s services and public health. The Government has published guidance on protecting those services during the move to new council structures.

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The European Union has opened negotiations with Ukraine on the part of the EU acquis covering external relations policies. The step was taken at the third meeting of the Accession Conference and marks further progress in Ukraine’s path towards membership.

The talks cover the extent to which Ukraine’s policies align with EU rules and international commitments in external relations. The accession process requires candidate countries to satisfy detailed legal, institutional and political conditions before joining the bloc.

Ukraine’s membership bid has become a central strategic issue for the EU since Russia’s invasion. European leaders continue to support Kyiv’s European ambitions, although enlargement also raises questions about institutional reform, funding and the future shape of the Union.