Labour has urged Boris Johnson to “set an example” and cancel his forthcoming trip to India because of the Covid risk. Steve Reed, the shadow communities secretary, said because of the threat posed by new variants, the prime minister should abandon plans to fly to India later this month and instead hold his scheduled meetings … Read more
The British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, said the UK stood in “full support” of the Czech Republic after the country’s police announced they were hunting two Russians suspected of carrying out the Salisbury poisonings, in relation to an explosion at an arms depot. The Czech authorities said on Saturday they were seeking Alexander Petrov, 41, … Read more
Trade union leaders have written to the prime minister, calling on him to reject the “insulting” report published by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. In a letter seen by the Observer, 33 trade union general secretaries representing more than 5 million workers have urged the government to “pick a different path”, noting that … Read more
Nearly 70% of companies accused of launching fire-and-rehire assaults on workers’ wages and conditions are making a profit and half have claimed government support during the pandemic. Boris Johnson has called the practice “unacceptable”, but ministers have also insisted that firms in financial difficulty must have the flexibility to offer new terms and conditions. Analysis … Read more
The right is making Britain a normal country. I don’t mean that as a compliment, just as a statement of the dismal fact that in most countries it’s normal for the ruling clique to seek to limit the independence of the judiciary, control state television and fill the taxpayer-funded civil service with cranky ideologues, who … Read more