Month: October 2021

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Boris Johnson has warned world leaders there are “no compelling excuses” for failing to tackle climate change. Speaking at the close of the G20 summit in Rome, he said some progress was made in the past few

Press Association The window to keep within the 1.5 degree warming target is closing, COP26 president Alok Sharma has warned the climate summit in Glasgow. Scientists say that keeping global warming below 1.5C – a target world leaders agreed to work towards in 2015 – will avoid the worst climate impacts. “We know our shared

Reuters Climate change and Covid are top of the agenda as leaders from the world’s major economies meet in Italy. It is the first time the G20 leaders are meeting face-to-face since the start of the pandemic. However, China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin will not be in Rome for the summit, choosing to

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has acknowledged “turbulence” in the UK’s relationship with France as the row over fishing rights escalates. After dozens of French boats were denied post-Brexit fishing licences for UK and Jersey waters, France threatened

Getty Images The Queen has been advised by doctors to rest for two further weeks and will not undertake official visits during this time, Buckingham Palace has said. The palace said the monarch, 95, could undertake some light duties during that time, including virtual audiences. It said it is her “firm intention” to attend the

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The UK could respond in turn if France goes ahead with threats amid a row over post-Brexit fishing rights, the environment secretary has said, warning that “two can play at that game”. France has said it could

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The UK has condemned “unjustified” threats from France and summoned the country’s ambassador, in an escalating row over post-Brexit fishing rights. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is calling for talks later, asking Catherine Colonna to explain “disappointing and

Getty Images Middle-income families are set to be worse off next year amid spiralling costs and tax rises, says an independent economic think tank. Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said that inflation and higher taxes on incomes would negate small wage increases. The government’s forecaster warned on Wednesday that the

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has set out changes to universal credit he says will give low income families an extra £1,000 a year. In an upbeat Budget speech, he said the UK economy had not been hit as

Getty Images The UK’s spending watchdog expects the economy will return to its pre-Covid level at the turn of the year, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has lifted its prediction for economic growth in 2021 to 6.5%, up from its previous forecast of 4%. It has also reduced its

UK government The chancellor has promised his Budget “begins the work of preparing for a new economy” post-Covid, after rafts of policy previews angered the Commons. Spending for transport, health and education has already been unveiled in the press, leading to fury from the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle. Later Rishi Sunak will fill in the

Former Rangers, Everton and Scotland manager Walter Smith has died at the age of 73. Smith achieved legendary status at Ibrox, with 21 trophies in two spells making him the second most successful Rangers boss ever behind Bill Struth. He won the latter seven titles of Rangers’ nine-in-a-row run in the 1990s and returned to

Getty Images At least 1.3m public sector workers are set to see their wages rise next year after the government confirmed their pay freeze is being lifted. Chancellor Rishi Sunak will use his Budget on Wednesday to say nurses, teachers and members of the armed forces are among those set to benefit. A “temporary pause”