UK News and Discussions

[Time_Traveller]

Bus fares to rise to £3 in England under new cap

28 October 2024, 12:06 GMT

The bus fare cap in England will be raised to £3 in the upcoming Budget, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced.

It is an increase on the current limit of £2 which was introduced under the previous Conservative government to help with the cost of living.

The existing cap was due to expire at the end of December.

Sir Keir said: "I do know how much this matters, particularly in rural communities where there is heavy reliance on buses."

The new £3 cap, covering most bus journeys in England, will run until the end of 2025.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0l99xz719o

Labour making the wrong decision again.

[Time_Traveller]

Chancellor sets out new funding for extra NHS appointments

28 October 2024

The government has announced more details of what is in this week's Budget for the NHS - including £1.57bn for new surgical hubs, scanners and radiotherapy machines.

The funding is part of the government's overall pledge to increase the number of NHS hospital appointments and procedures in England by 40,000 per week.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the Budget will help to "start fixing the foundation" of the NHS - but warned it "will take time to turn the situation around".

Health experts have welcomed the new funding but cautioned there were many unanswered questions about future policy with the government’s 10-year NHS plan not published until next spring.

Full details of the government's funding plans will come in Wednesday's Budget.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cde7kll9j46o

[Time_Traveller]

Minimum wage to rise to £12.21 an hour next year

4 minutes ago

Minimum wages will rise in April, with the National Living Wage set to go up to £12.21 an hour, the chancellor has confirmed ahead of Wednesday's Budget.

Rachel Reeves said the pay boost marked a "significant step" towards achieving its promise of a "genuine living wage" for workers.

Employees aged 18 to 20 and apprentices will also see their minimum hourly pay increase.

The government said more than three million workers will benefit, but firms have warned the higher cost could mean they have to cut back on hiring.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y37wqnvwxo

[Time_Traveller]

Nigel Farage urges every Conservative councillor facing re-election to defect to Reform with 'lifeline' offer.

24 October 2024, 11:25

The party leader, who was elected as an MP for the first time in July, wrote to every one of the Conservatives' 1,352 councillors whose seats are being voted on next May to encourage them to leave the "busted flush" party.

Some Conservative councillors have already defected to Reform in areas where the smaller party did well at the General Election in July. Reform only has 28 councillors currently.

The offer is expected to stand whether Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick is elected Conservative leader, with Mr Farage appearing to play down either candidate's right-wing bona fides.

The Conservatives have laid the blame for Labour's General Election victory in part at the door of Reform. Mr Farage's party gained over 4 million votes in July, a 14.3% share, but only gained five seats. It came second in a further 98 seats, 89 of which were won by Labour.

Mr Farage said: “The Conservative Party is a busted flush – these 1352 councillors are watching their time in office tick away, whilst they argue between themselves on whether to choose a leader that’s undergone a [damascene] political conversion and someone who won’t leave the ECHR.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/nigel-farage ... ct-reform/

We now have to be careful now and how many of these councillors will defect to Reform on the 6th November.

[Time_Traveller]

Budget 2024 live: Rachel Reeves reveals £40bn in tax hikes and boost to NHS spending in historic speech

3 minutes ago

Rachel Reeves has announced tax hikes that will raise an eye-watering £40bn in her historic first Budget but revealed a boost to NHS spending.

Launching an attack on previous Tory governments, the chancellor said Labour had inherited a £22bn “black hole”, and would never again “allow a government to play fast and loose with public finances.

After months spent warning the public of “tough choices” ahead, Ms Reeves promised to “invest, invest, invest” in order to “fix public services” and announced a £22.6 billion increase in the day-to-day NHS health budget.

Increases to employers’ national insurance contributions, stamp duty on second homes and a scrapping of VAT exemption on private schools fees were all confirmed by the chancellor, as well as a new duty on vaping liquids.

However, there were surprise announcements that the freeze on income tax thresholds, often described as a “stealth tax”, would not be extended past 2028, while Ms Reeves has also decided against a hike in fuel duty.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 38342.html

[Time_Traveller]

Voting ends in Conservative leadership contest

31 October 2024, 12:09 GMT



Voting has ended in the marathon contest to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader. The ballot of party members closed at 17:00 GMT.

The winner will be announced on Saturday morning, almost four months after the Tories' crushing general election defeat which triggered Sunak's resignation.

Conservative members have been choosing between former Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch and ex-immigration minister Robert Jenrick, after four other candidates were eliminated in a series of votes by the party's MPs.

Badenoch is the favourite to win, but Jenrick insisted the contest was "close", saying "we're chasing down every vote".

He also told the BBC the turnout had been low.

Appearing on the Politics Live programme, he said he wanted "whoever is elected to have a mandate from the membership".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2dqzqx2y1o

[Time_Traveller]

Kemi Badenoch wins race to be next Tory leader

Saturday 2 November 2024 11:14, UK



Kemi Badenoch has won the race to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.

The 44-year-old North West Essex MP has been declared the winner of the months-long contest, beating Robert Jenrick.

Ms Badenoch received 53,806 votes to Mr Jenrick's 41,388.

Ms Badenoch has served as shadow business and trade secretary since the Conservative Party lost the general election in July and Rishi Sunak said he would stand down as leader, triggering the campaign.

Her campaign was called Renewal 2030 and has targeted the next election for the Tories to return to power.

https://news.sky.com/story/kemi-badenoc ... r-13245903

She makes UK history by becoming the second female and the first black leader of a Westminster party, we on the left will definitely keep an eye on her as the months and years to come including her pro-fossil fuel policies.

[wjfox]

England may not be ‘smoke-free’ until 2039, cancer charity warns

Mon 4 Nov 2024 06.00 GMT

England will not be “smoke-free” until 2039, missing a key public health target by almost a decade, an analysis has found.

While smoking rates are in decline they are not falling fast enough to realise the government’s ambition of England being “smoke-free” by 2030, according to Cancer Research UK (CRUK).

And stark socioeconomic inequalities in smoking – with poorer people much more likely to light up than the well-off – will continue for decades to come, its research shows.

In 2019, the government announced its intention for England to be “smoke-free” by 2030, which it defined as 5% of adults, or fewer, still smoking. It is a key measure of progress towards improving the population’s health, given smoking causes almost 80,000 deaths a year across the UK from cancer, heart disease and other conditions and costs the NHS billions to treat.

However, CRUK’s latest analysis of when the 5% target will be reached has concluded that it will not be until 2039, even though smoking rates are expected to keep coming down in the next few years.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... rity-warns



Credit: Jonathan Brady/PA

[Time_Traveller]

Sir Keir Starmer set to increase university tuition fees for first time in eight years

45 minutes ago

University tuition fees will increase in England for the first time in eight years, The Independent understands, as part of a major overhaul of the higher education system.

Fees, which have been frozen at £9,250 since 2017, are expected to rise in line with the Retail Price Index inflation from September 2025. Matching them to the current rate of inflation at 2.7 per cent would mean they increase to around £9,500.

It comes amid growing concern over the state of the education sector, with many universities facing financial crisis. As many as 40 per cent of English universities are expecteed to fall into a budget deficit this year.

Earlier this year Universities UK called for tuition fees to be “index-linked to inflation, not to address the funding shortfall, but to allow fee income to maintain its real-terms value over time”.

Concerns over university finances have been compounded by a drop in the number of international students, who were propping up the sector.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 40984.html

[Time_Traveller]

Jenrick accepts role in Badenoch's top team

4 November 2024, 11:01 GMT



Robert Jenrick has accepted the job of shadow justice secretary in Kemi Badenoch's senior team, the BBC understands.

The new Tory leader is also expected to name Dame Priti Patel as her shadow foreign secretary and Mel Stride as her shadow chancellor.

Dame Priti, Stride and Jenrick were all candidates against Badenoch in the Tory leadership race, with Badenoch beating Jenrick in the final round.

By appointing not only former rivals but also figures from different wings of the party, Badenoch will be hoping to unite the Conservatives after a bruising election defeat.

However, there was wrangling over which if any job Jenrick would take and during negotiations one Conservative source, not close to the leadership, told the BBC: "Kemi just doesn’t like Rob. She thinks his whole schtick about her and whether she has any policies has done her lasting damage with the right and with Reform voters.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj9n304z0x7o

[Time_Traveller]

Typhoo Tea teeters on the brink of administration

15 November 2024, 10:44 GMT

Typhoo Tea is set to appoint administrators as the 120-year-old brand's sales slump, losses widen and debts rise.

The company has filed a notice at court "which affords the company some breathing space to explore solutions", Typhoo's chief executive Dave McNulty told the BBC.

The firm has been trying to turn itself around for some time.

However, it suffered a setback after trespassers damaged its former factory in Moreton, Merseyside last year.

"Given the delicate nature of this we are not in a position to comment any further," said Mr McNulty.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yr22qq5q8o

[firestar464]

Northerners, Scots and Irish excel at detecting fake accents to guard against outsiders, study suggests

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-northerne ... -fake.html

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

it is joever

[weatheriscool]

it is joever

I don't like what I am seeing. The right is moving ahead in most of the developed world.

[Powers]

it is joever

Norsefire unites with Gilead.

[wjfox]

‘Mainlined into UK’s veins’: Labour announces huge public rollout of AI

Sun 12 Jan 2025 23.37 GMT

Artificial intelligence will be “mainlined into the veins” of the nation, ministers have announced, with a multibillion-pound investment in the UK’s computing capacity despite widespread public fear about the technology’s effects.

Keir Starmer will launch a sweeping action plan to increase 20-fold the amount of AI computing power under public control by 2030 and deploy AI for everything from spotting potholes to freeing up teachers to teach.

Labour’s plan to “unleash” AI includes a personal pledge from the prime minister to make Britain “the world leader” in a sector that has been transformed by a series of significant breakthroughs in the last three years.

The government plan features a potentially controversial scheme to unlock public data to help fuel the growth of AI businesses. This includes anonymised NHS data, which will be available for “researchers and innovators” to train their AI models. The government says there would be “strong privacy-preserving safeguards” and the data would never be owned by private companies.

Ministers believe AI can help tackle Britain’s anaemic economic growth and deliver, according to its own forecasts, an economic boost rising to up to £470bn over the next decade.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... lout-of-ai

[firestar464]

Welp, there goes Labour. That is unless they have plans to manage transition to tech unemployment and UBI effectively.