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Sir Keir Starmer has faced accusations of “fudging the facts” about his education, from the founder of a social mobility charity. Sutton Trust founder Sir Peter Lampl, who went to the same school as the Prime Minister, Reigate Grammar, made the claim as he attacked the Government’s plans to charge VAT on private school fees. The school was funded by the local council when the Prime Minister joined, but became […]

Nigel Farage has compared Reform UK’s rise in the polls with Donald Trump’s presidential victory in the US, as the party squared up to the Tories with a rally in Kemi Badenoch’s constituency. The North West Essex rally, which heard speeches from four of Reform’s five MPs, follows a spat between Conservative Party leader Mrs Badenoch and Mr Farage over party membership figures during the Christmas period. Mr Farage told […]

US President Donald Trump will put in place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China effective on Saturday, the White House said. But it provided no word on whether there would be any exemptions to the measures that could result in swift price increases to US consumers. Mr Trump had been threatening the tariffs to ensure greater co-operation from the countries on […]

AstraZeneca has cancelled a planned £450 million investment in a vaccine manufacturing plant in Merseyside, saying Labour failed to match the previous government’s offer of support. The decision reverses an announcement made by then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt at last year’s March budget that would have seen the pharmaceutical company expand its existing facility in Speke. At the time, the Conservative government said the investment would both boost the UK’s life sciences […]

Kemi Badenoch has dismissed Reform UK as a “protest party” as Nigel Farage prepares to hold a rally in her constituency. The Conservative leader told broadcasters she was “not at all” worried about Reform’s presence in her North West Essex constituency, adding that talking about Labour’s farming policy was “much more important than having a rally about myself”. The rally, which is expected to see speeches from all five of […]

A senior adviser to the Duke of York told an alleged Chinese spy later banned from the UK that Andrew’s Newsnight interview had been “ill advised”, newly released documents show. Tribunal documents made available on Friday show that aide Dominic Hampshire thanked Yang Tengbo for standing by Andrew following the 2019 interview over his relationship with late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “We have dealt with the aftermath of a […]

Consumers will see the price of alcohol rise from Saturday when a hike in tax and duties comes into effect. The alcohol tax itself will rise in line with the Retail Price Index at 3.6%, but a new system to tax wines and spirits based on strength will be introduced at the same time. This means the duty on a bottle of gin will rise by 32p, while wine at […]

A body has been recovered from a river near where two missing sisters were last seen in Aberdeen. Henrietta and Eliza Huszti, 32, part of a set of triplets who moved to Scotland from Hungary, were last seen at 2am near the River Dee in the city on January 7. A huge missing persons search was launched, amid fears for their safety in freezing weather conditions. On Friday just before […]

Government efforts in recent years to address violence against women and girls (VAWG) have not improved outcomes for victims, according to the spending watchdog. VAWG is a “significant and growing problem” affecting one in 12 women, the National Audit Office (NAO) said. But it added that the Home Office – the main department in charge of work to tackle it – “is not currently leading an effective cross-government response”. A […]