7 h. ago Civil service contractor among 61 London firms fined for hiring illegal workers

Some 61 firms in the capital were issued penalties totalling a record more than £3.2million

Economics

11 h. ago Civil service contractor among 61 London businesses fined for hiring illegal workers

Some 61 firms in the capital were issued penalties totalling a record more than £3.2million

Economics

11 h. ago Farage to give up Reform’s manifesto pledge for £90bn in tax cuts

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage will promise not to reduce taxes before cutting spending and making savings in the civil service at a major speech next month

Economics

3 d. ago Gaza ceasefire plan live: Israel’s government approves deal for hostages’ release as US troops to ‘oversee’ truce

Ceasefire supposed to begin immediately after early Friday’s cabinet approval under deal, says Israeli officialIsraeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner after a government meeting to approve the US-brokered deal to release all hostages and implement a ceasefire in Gaza.The Times of Israel reports that Gaza’s civil defence service has issued a warning to Palestinians not to approach the areas where the Israeli forces are present, particularly towards the border, until the IDF has officially announced their withdrawal and officials confirm this. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Starmer's China spying case crisis deepens: Former civil service chief dismisses idea Beijing could not be described as a 'threat'

Former Cabinet Secretary Lord Case pointed out that intelligence chiefs had been publicly describing Beijing as a 'threat' for 'years'.

Events

7 d. ago Tory party conference 2025: Mel Stride pledges £5,000 national insurance rebate for young homebuyers

Shadow chancellor will use his Tory conference speech to set plans to cut welfare spending, foreign aid and the Civil Service if his party wins the next election

Economics

7 d. ago Scotland's civil service grows by hundreds despite SNP pledge to cut it

Between June 2024 and June 2025, the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) civil servants rose by 430

Politics

7 d. ago SNP hiring spree continues as civil service 'bloats' while NHS struggles

Shona Robison has pledged to reduce the size of the civl service by 2030 but staffing numbers continue to rise.

Sport

7 d. ago Foreigners will be BANNED from claiming benefits under Tory plans to save £50billion

Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride will unveil plans for cutting welfare, foreign aid and the size of the civil service to put the public finances on a more stable footing and pave the way for tax cuts.

Economics

7 d. ago Tories tout £47bn in spending cuts in bid to reclaim fiscal reputation

Shadow chancellor says he will target welfare spending, overseas aid budget and civil service staffing to find savings

Economics

7 d. ago 'Same old Tories' unveil plan to cut benefits for 'low level' mental health conditions

The Conservatives were accused of coming back with reheated policies to cut benefits, foreign aid and civil service numbers - and failing to apologise for their dire record

Politics

1 week ago UK business secretary approved £1.5bn JLR loan guarantee despite civil service concerns

Peter Kyle said he was willing to take on greater risk in approving the speedy financial support for carmaker

Economics

1 week ago Transvision Vamp’s Wendy James on scandals, reunions and her beef with Elvis Costello

She became an 80s pop icon – and a media hate figure. Now, reforming her group after more than 30 years, James recalls her painful path through through the music business, surviving ‘Harvey Weinstein-type’ situations, and working with punk’s finestBy 1989, Wendy James and her pop-rock band Transvision Vamp had reached the UK No 1 spot with their second album, two of their singles had been in the top five, and James, with her peroxide blond hair and fondness for lingerie and leather, had crossed the pop-rock divide as a cover star for both Smash Hits and NME. “I thought I was going to be bigger than Madonna,” she says, “and I was pretty sure I was going to win an Oscar.”Instead, everything unravelled within two years: the band split up after their third album was poorly received, and James vanished from the public eye for a decade. She later built a solo career, and hasn’t wanted to revisit the past. “Everyone fucking reforms,” she says, sat in a cafe in Toulouse close to where she h...

Politics

2 w. ago Log burners: you risk a £1,000 fine if you light a wood burner or fireplace

If you’re thinking of lighting up the log burner this winter, here’s what new pollution laws mean for you 🔥

Events

2 w. ago ‘A hacker’s dream’: Britons on Keir Starmer’s plan for digital ID cards

Views range from concerns over civil liberties and cybersecurity, to welcoming it as a helpful system to streamline servicesKeir Starmer has announced plans for a digital ID system, which will become mandatory as a means of proving the right to work in the UK.From concerns around civil liberties and cybersecurity to a helpful system to streamline services in line with other European countries’ existing ID schemes, eight people share their views. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Reform UK must ‘cut away’ at civil service, says Farage ally

If the party wins the next election, it should scrap several regulators and watchdogs, Arron Banks says

Politics

2 w. ago Civil servants face ban on 'nonsense' meetings about 'veganism' and 'British guilt' during working day

New rules have been issued to all Whitehall staff 'networks' to ensure their activities remain within the civil service code.

Politics

2 w. ago Government launches crackdown on ‘inappropriate’ Civil Service events

Mandarins will now need approval from senior managers before holding such events.

Politics

3 w. ago He told the King: 'What you are doing is amazing for young people'

A young fine-dining chef with dreams of opening his own catering business was struggling to make headway — until he turned to The King’s Trust

Politics

3 w. ago Trump has dragged the US to the abyss and Nigel Farage would do the same to Britain. Here’s how to stop him | Jonathan Freedland

It’s not too late to puncture the Reform leader’s populist myth. His ‘make Britain great again’ act is out of step with the British peopleThe march towards the darkness is becoming a sprint. In the US, warnings about the autocratic ambitions of Donald Trump that were once dismissed as hyperbole and hysteria now seem, if anything, too mild. Faster than most imagined, he has moved to weaken institutional checks on his power – whether the courts, the universities, the civil service or the press – and now has set to work gagging his critics, even, it seems, to outlaw large swathes of the opposition.This week saw the suspension by a major broadcasting network, Disney-owned ABC, of a late-night talkshow, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, following remarks Kimmel had made about the killing of the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk. Kimmel did not criticise Kirk himself – an act now considered all but blasphemous in the US – but rather Republicans’ reaction to his murder, especially their eagerness to “scor...

Politics