Author: MoorningTimes

Nigel Farage has unveiled the first part of Reform UK’s frontbench team, saying it shows that the party is no longer reliant entirely on him – while also warning that he will not tolerate any dissent from his colleagues.Two of the four appointees are recent defectors from the Conservatives: Robert Jenrick, who takes on the Treasury brief, and Suella Braverman, whom Farage has put in charge of education, skills and equalities.Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, who before Jenrick’s arrival had been expected to have the Treasury role, has instead been handed a combined brief of business, trade and energy. Zia…

Key eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureTice says Reform would set up sovereign wealth fund to help with reindustrialisation of UKRichard Tice is speaking now.He says he is qualified for this post because he has worked in business creating millions for shareholders.He says the proposed new business department would cover housing.He says he would reindustrialise Britain.And he would also set up a sovereign weath fund. I’m going to be talking this time next week in the Midlands in great detail about this, a sovereign wealth fund that backs British companies, that buys and promotes British…

In the mid-1980s, a remarkable German television series became appointment viewing in my house each Thursday evening. Heimat, an epic portrait of the life and times of a fictional Rhineland village, tracked the inhabitants of Schabbach as they navigated the tumultuous 20th century. Across the course of 15 hours, Edgar Reitz’s drama conveyed a romantic, almost religious, sense of rootedness and love of place. As the aged local gravedigger liked to tell outsiders: “Down on earth as you all know, there’s high and low German, but in heaven – as you’d expect – they speak the Hunsrück dialect.”Half-playful, half-serious, those…

Keir Starmer has been forced to abandon plans to delay local elections with less than three months’ notice in another policy U-turn that has prompted anger among his own MPs and scorn from opposition leaders.The prime minister is under fire after ministers said on Monday they were abandoning plans to delay local elections in 30 places in England – a decision that will cost taxpayers millions of pounds in administrative costs.Steve Reed, the local government secretary, announced the reversal after officials decided they were likely to lose a legal challenge brought by Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK.The announcement…

Children are at risk of measles because the NHS is “clearly failing” to ensure they get the MMR vaccine and its system needs an urgent overhaul, MPs and health experts have warned.Calls are growing for major reform of how MMR jabs are delivered as it emerged that vaccination rates in some parts of England are now on a par with those in Afghanistan and Malawi.More outbreaks of measles like the one in north London are inevitable, public health specialists believe, given that fewer than 60% of five-year-olds in some places have had both the recommended doses of MMR.In Enfield, where…

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Keir Starmer has pledged action on young people’s access to social media in “months, not years”, while saying this did not necessarily mean a complete ban on access for under-16s.Speaking at an event in London after the government promised to extend the crackdown to AI chatbots that place children at risk, Starmer said the issue was nuanced and that a ban was not definite, noting concerns from charities such as the NSPCC.“I think this is such an important issue that we need to go into it with a ban as a possibility,” he told a community hub in Putney, saying…

Liz Kendall stresses consultation launch does not mean full social media ban for under-16s is inevitableGood morning. Parliament is in recess this week, but politics goes on, and the government an announcement about social media. The Online Safety Act, a vast piece of legislation that was first proposed in the last decade and passed in 2023, is only now fully coming into force. But already there are claims that it is out of date and, under pressure from campaigners – and particularly the Conservative party – the government last month announced that it will consult on the case for banning…

The Trades Union Congress is urging the Bank of England to cut interest rates and rekindle economic growth, pointing to analysis showing that cash-strapped consumers are lagging their international peers.The Bank’s monetary policy committee voted 5-4 to leave borrowing costs unchanged this month, after six cuts since mid-2024.Some members of the committee remain anxious about the risks of high wage growth unleashing a fresh bout of inflation, but the TUC argues that weak growth should be the more pressing concern.Paul Nowak, the TUC’s general secretary said: “The Bank of England has a crucial role to play here. Last year they…

Makers of AI chatbots that put children at risk will face massive fines or even see their services blocked in the UK under law changes to be announced by Keir Starmer on Monday.Emboldened by Elon Musk’s X stopping its Grok AI tool from creating sexualised images of real people in the UK after public outrage last month, ministers are planning a “crackdown on vile illegal content created by AI”.With more and more children using chatbots for everything from help with their homework to mental health support, the government said it would “move fast to shut a legal loophole and force…