Author: James Carter

One of Labour’s most prominent green backers has turned on the party’s flagship home energy programme, arguing that nearly £2.7 billion earmarked for heat pump subsidies should be diverted to fill the Government’s growing defence spending gap instead. Dale Vince, founder of green energy company Ecotricity and a long-standing Labour donor, said the Boiler Upgrade Scheme — which offers households up to £7,500 towards the cost of installing a heat pump under Ed Miliband’s Warm Homes Plan — amounted to handing public money to people who already had the means to pay for the upgrades themselves. With Britain facing mounting…

Nigel Farage has set out the most detailed account yet of how a Reform UK government would tackle illegal migration, promising to pay unwanted migrants up to £1,000 to leave Britain voluntarily and warning that those who refuse would be forcibly removed by a newly created deportation unit. Farage and home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf presented the plans at a press conference, confirming that a Reform government elected in 2029 would conduct a retrospective review of all asylum grants made over the preceding five years. Those found to have entered the country illegally — whether by small boat, concealed in…

Sir Keir Starmer will face one of the most significant tests of his premiership in the Commons today, as he attempts to explain his role in the appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador despite the Labour grandee having failed security checks. The Prime Minister is expected to make a statement addressing what he knew about the vetting process, following a week in which the affair has escalated rapidly into a full-blown political crisis. The Foreign Office’s most senior official, Sir Olly Robbins, was dismissed last week after it emerged that Lord Mandelson had been granted developed vetting status despite…

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has set out plans to detain and deport up to 400,000 asylum seekers should the party win the next general election, in what would represent the most sweeping overhaul of Britain’s immigration system ever proposed by a mainstream political party. The policy, unveiled as the party continues to build its pre-election platform, would target anyone who arrived in the UK illegally in the five years prior to a Reform government taking office. That encompasses those who crossed the Channel by small boat, entered clandestinely in lorries, claimed asylum using fraudulent documentation, or overstayed an existing visa…

Britain’s pub trade is facing an anxious wait over the coming weeks as brewers warn that the ongoing conflict involving the United States and Iran could trigger a shortage of carbon dioxide — the gas that puts the fizz in draught beer — just as the World Cup gets under way. CO2 is an essential component in carbonating drinks and dispensing beer through taps, and its supply has historically been vulnerable to disruption during periods of geopolitical instability. With the tournament beginning in under two months, industry figures are watching the situation closely and urging the Government to take action…

White House officials are said to be privately discussing who might succeed Kash Patel as FBI Director, according to reports emerging in the wake of a damaging profile published by The Atlantic that alleges erratic behaviour and a persistent drinking problem within the bureau’s senior leadership. The piece, written by journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick, paints a troubling picture of Patel’s conduct since taking charge of the agency. Multiple current and former officials cited in the report described him as “erratic, suspicious of others, and prone to jumping to conclusions without sufficient evidence.” Several sources also claimed his drinking had become “a…

British schools that sign up to the EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme will be required to teach pupils about European integration, display the EU flag and acknowledge the European project’s benefits — conditions that Conservative MPs say amount to government-sanctioned propaganda aimed at children as young as four. Labour finalised the UK’s return to the £570 million-a-year scheme this week, with ministers describing it as a significant opportunity for young people to study and work on the continent. But details buried in the small print of the agreement have drawn fierce criticism from Tory politicians, who argue the accompanying obligations…

A congressional financial disclosure listing US Representative Ilhan Omar’s assets at up to $30 million has been dramatically revised downward following intervention by a watchdog body, with an amended filing now placing her total holdings at under $100,000. The corrected document, reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, shows that Omar and her husband’s combined assets fall between $18,004 and $95,000 — a stark contrast to the original filing, which had estimated their holdings at between $6 million and $30 million. Her office attributed the discrepancy to an accounting error, stating the amendment was made “as soon as the discrepancy was…

Nigel Farage faces mounting pressure to dismiss two additional local election candidates after investigations uncovered racist and anti-Muslim social media content, intensifying questions about Reform UK’s candidate screening processes ahead of May’s council polls. Labour has characterised the party’s vetting procedures as “clearly not fit for purpose” following revelations that Alan Stay, standing for Reform on the Isle of Wight, shared Facebook posts featuring explicit racial epithets whilst defending their usage as harmless language. Stay’s social media activity included responding to a news story about a DJ’s dismissal for playing a record containing racist terminology by repeatedly using the slur…

British motorists confronted marginally cheaper forecourt costs for the first time in seven weeks Thursday as petrol prices edged down by 0.2 pence per litre whilst diesel dropped 0.3 pence—modest reductions that nonetheless mark psychological turning point after 46 consecutive days of increases that extracted an additional £1.3 billion from drivers since the Iran war commenced on 28 February. The average petrol litre cost 158.1 pence yesterday compared to 158.3 pence the previous day, whilst diesel declined from 191.5 pence to 191.2 pence over the same period—changes so marginal that individual motorists will barely notice when filling tanks yet significant…