16 h. ago British food and drink industry call on EU to ‘reset’ trade ties

Retailers and food producers offer to help efforts reduce ‘unnecessary red tape’ costing industry billions of poundsMore than a dozen of Britain’s biggest retailers and food producers, including Marks & Spencer, J Sainsbury and Asda, have called on the EU to reduce checks on food and drink crossing the Channel and Irish Sea, which they say are costing billions of pounds.Ahead of a summit on 19 May that is hoped to “reset” trade ties five years on from Brexit, they are urging politicians to hammer out a deal on sanitary and phytosanitary checks. They hope this would include a veterinary agreement and would harmonise food safety rules or recognise them as equivalent. Continue reading...

Politics

44 h. ago Minister hopes supreme court’s gender ruling will ‘draw a line’ under trans debate – UK politics live

Health minister Karen Smyth says ‘it’s good we have clarity for women’ as Tories call for ruling to be ‘reinforced with legislation’Shadow chancellor Mel Stride has highlighted the recent report by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) which suggested business confidence in the UK has dipped severely.In a post to social media, the recently knighted MP said:I take no pleasure in the ICAEW’s latest survey, which reveals UK business confidence has slipped into negative territory for the first three months of 2025, thanks to Labour’s anti-business budget.Tax burden tops the list of concerns for the second quarter in a row, with 56% of businesses saying it’s their greatest challenge. Red tape follows closely, with 43% of companies reporting increased strain. Rising costs and wage pressures continue to squeeze profits, with investment growth remaining sluggish.Single-sex services like changing rooms must be based on biological sex. If a male person is allowed...

Politics

3 d. ago Energy watchdog boss vows less ‘heavy handed’ approach to regulating suppliers

Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley was speaking weeks after the Chancellor vowed to cut red tape across the UK to promote growth.

Politics

3 d. ago What Labour and Mayor Sadiq Khan are doing to revive London's nightlife

Ministers want to remove ‘red tape’ they believe is hampering the night-time economy — and say they ‘back the British night out’

Politics

8 d. ago This is how many new GPs the north west will get as patients struggle for appointments

'Unnecessary red tape was preventing practices from hiring newly qualified GPs', meaning more than 1,000 were due to graduate into unemployment in summer last year, the government has said

Science

1 week ago Starmer ‘frustrated’ by regulators as he seeks to cut red tape to boost growth

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said in some cases regulators’ priorities ‘aren’t necessarily aligned with what the Government’s trying to achieve’.

Politics

1 week ago ‘Vain’ baggage handler who posed topless on airplane engine at Sydney Airport fined

A judge called the dangerous act ‘stupid’ and ‘irresponsible’

Politics

1 week ago Over 1,500 GPs hired as government seeks to end 8am appointment scramble

The Department of Health and Social Care said that since October 1 some 1,503 GPs have been recruited after cutting red-tape preventing practices hiring newly qualified GPs

Politics

1 week ago Starmer to declare end of globalisation while Trump’s tariff war rages

Prime minister argues that tariffs show Britain must ‘move further and faster’ in cutting red tape to boost economic growth

Politics

1 week ago Starmer to declare end of globalisation and admit it has failed voters

Prime minister argues that tariffs show Britain must ‘move further and faster’ in cutting red tape to boost economic growth

Politics

2 w. ago Rangers takeover latest as legal red tape nears finish line and Patrick Stewart grilling faced with unfortunate timing

The new CEO is set to face questions on the takeover, Barry Ferguson, and how the club plan to bridge the gap to Celtic

Events

3 w. ago What is ‘abundance’ liberalism, and why are people arguing about it?

A new book has sparked debate with its provocative claim that progressive public policy in the US is brokenIs progressive public policy in America broken? Do many left-leaning laws actually make life more expensive for struggling people? Is regulatory red tape hindering growth and innovation? Have Democratic-run cities, such as New York and San Francisco, become giant billboards against liberal governance?These arguments wouldn’t sound out of place in a policy paper from a conservative thinktank. Yet their newest champions are two of America’s best-known left-leaning journalists, the New York Times’ Ezra Klein and the Atlantic’s Derek Thompson – and they believe the left is overdue for a reckoning of sorts. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Open up, it's the red tape police! Officials enforcing Labour's equal pay law will be able to raid homes of company bosses

Business groups hit out at an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill that would give bureaucrats at the new Fair Work Agency the right to enter homes as well as business premises.

Society

3 w. ago Gene Hackman and wife Betsy's remains face new complications after their shock deaths

The bodies of actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, could be held under red tape as more legal questions remain concerning the couple's last wishes.

Events

4 w. ago British Army pays tribute to ‘Welsh warrior’ soldier, 25, after his death

The soldier, described as fiercely ambitious, had been planning to climb Everest before his death

Events

4 w. ago Red tape warriors versus the red army: The EU's attempt to be an alternativer to NATO is as stupid as it is dangerous, writes NILE GARDINER

NILE GARDINER: For all his show of contempt for the West, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has one great fear.

Events