COP26 has arrived. Over the next two weeks, Glasgow will host what is being billed as humanity’s last, best chance to keep global warming under 1.5C. Over 200 countries will work together to set ambitious global climate change targets, but with big polluters like China and Russia looking less and likely to achieve global net-zero…
Foreign secretary Liz Truss has today reaffirmed previous suggestions that the UK could pursue legal action against France amid its ongoing row over fishing licenses. The minister told the Sky News Breakfast programme this morning that the UK could sue French authorities if they do not “stop threatening [British] fishing vessels”. She said “the deal…
Every year, millions of people wake up dazed and confused as they ponder why everything seems to have started late that day, only to realise the clocks have changed. But why do we put the clocks back, and is it about time it changed? Our reporter Michael Saliba headed to the Greenwich Royal Observatory to…
Downing Street confirmed yesterday that the PM will hold “brush by” talks with the French President at the G20 on Sunday. Yesterday evening POLITICO revealed a private letter sent by French Prime Minister Jean Castex to European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen, that read: “It… seems necessary for the European Union to show its…
In what is being billed as “the last best hope to fight climate change”, COP26 is finally upon us. This year’s COP is seen as the final chance to limit anthropogenic climate change to under 1.5c. There have been 25 previous COP conferences, can you name where they’ve been held in the past? The post…
Foreign secretary Liz Truss has summoned the French Ambassador Catherine Colonna to meet with Britain’s Europe Minister Wendy Morton this afternoon, amid an ongoing fishing licenses row. This latest flashpoint was triggered overnight on Wednesday, when France detained a British trawler and verbally warned another off the coast of Le Havre, and the French government…
The under-secretary for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Rebecca Pow says the anger over raw sewage deposits is part of a “social media storm [that] has been whipped up.” Luke Pollard, the shadow secretary of state for the environment, said: “Whipping their own MPs to vote against an amendment to end the routine discharge of…
Home secretary Priti Patel has described France’s decision to detain a British trawler and verbally warn another as “disappointing”. When asked today whether she was in talks with her French equivalent, she told journalists: “It is disappointing, and we as a country fulfilled all our obligations under the Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA). “But at…
Home secretary Priti Patel has hinted that asylum seekers arriving with too much documentation may be barred entry from the UK. Talking to the Lords’ justice and home affairs committee, Patel said: “We are granting asylum to those that are genuine asylum seekers, not those who turn up at primary control points at our airports and…
Rishi Sunak says he wants “a society that rewards energy, ingenuity and inventiveness” as he delivered a pro-growth autumn budget to the House of Commons this afternoon. The chancellor announced changes to tax on alcohol, promised to restore the UK’s foreign aid budget to 0.7% of GDP by 2024/2025, and cut the Universal Credit taper…
