Keir Starmer to ‘look at’ voting rights for EU citizens and 16-17 year olds May 14, 2023 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will “look at” expanding the franchise to EU citizens living in the UK and lowering the voting age to 16, a party frontbencher has confirmed. Shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said the proposals are “something we will look at”, amid reports over Labour being keen to bring in the [...]
AI will have ‘bigger economic impact’ than Industrial Revolution, expert predicts May 14, 2023 Emerging AI technologies will have a bigger impact on the global economy than the Industrial Revolution, a leading expert has predicted. Emad Mostaque, the founder of Stability AI, the maker of a free AI-image generating tool Stable Diffusion, has suggested artificial intelligence (AI) will be bigger than Google and Facebook within a decade. Speaking on [...]
National Grid needs ‘tens of billions’ to hit net zero goals, boss warns May 14, 2023 UK's electricity network needs tens of billions of pounds of investment to hit net zero goals, says National Grid boss John Pettigrew
Change in state pension age not to be decided until after next general election May 11, 2023 A decision on changing the state pension age won’t come until after the next general election, a top cabinet minister has admitted. Work and pension secretary Mel Stride said the starting age is not likely to go up to 68 until the 2040s and that there is “no reason why you need to take the [...]
Non-compete clauses slashed as ministers begin post-Brexit regulatory changes May 10, 2023 Non-compete clauses will be slashed to three months in a bid to boost competition between employers, ministers announced today, as a key EU ‘sunset’ clause is ditched. It comes as part of a move by the government to scrap its own plans for thousands of EU laws to automatically expire at the end of the [...]
First Big Oil, now the Government feels God’s wrath: Justin Welby slams ‘unacceptable’ small boats bill May 10, 2023 Justin Welby launched a stinging attack on the government’s Illegal Migration Bill, branding it “isolationist, morally unacceptable and politically impractical”. The Archbishop of Canterbury made the withering intervention as the flagship legislation on plans to tackle the small boats crisis faced its first test in the House of Lords. It came just a day after [...]
Cleverly talks down hopes of US trade deal on Washington trip May 10, 2023 Foreign secretary James Cleverly has talked down hopes of a UK-US trade deal during a visit to Washington DC. Speaking in the US on Tuesday, Cleverly said the government was not “prioritising” a free trade agreement (FTA) but aiming for “real economic coordination” with the superpower. His comments came at a press conference with US [...]
London Mayor: Two Tories officially throw their hat in the ring to take on Sadiq Khan May 9, 2023 Ex-Boris Johnson advisor Samuel Kasumu and former City Hall Tory chief Susan Hall have announced they plan to stand as Conservative candidate to run against mayor Sadiq Khan. The news came as the party opened the race to decide its mayoral pick ahead of a July 19 deadline, giving the chosen name 10 months to [...]
Truss to Taiwan: Former PM to rile Beijing with visit to under-threat island May 9, 2023 Former prime minister Liz Truss is set to continue her comeback tour with a visit to Taiwan. She is expected to deliver a speech there next week amid fears over what the trip could mean for UK-China relations, after foreign secretary James Cleverly warned Britain should not “pull the shutters down” on the Asian superpower. [...]
Starmer refuses to rule out Lib Dem coalition May 9, 2023 Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly refused to rule out a coalition with the Liberal Democrats if he does not secure a majority at the next general election. The Labour leader on Tuesday refused to rule out a pact with Sir Ed Davey’s party despite emphatically saying he would not team up with the Scottish National [...]