flamingos

Sir Keir, who was on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the assault was launched, said the rockets were aimed at civilian targets and it is "too soon to assess the impact fully".

"I utterly condemn this attempt by the Iranian regime to harm innocent Israelis, to escalate this incredibly dangerous situation and push the region ever closer to the brink," he said.
[…]
Sir Keir called on Iran to "stop these attacks", saying it had "menaced the Middle East for far too long".

"I am deeply concerned that the region is on the brink, and I'm deeply concerned about the risk of miscalculation," he added.
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Asked if the UK would be prepared to use British military capabilities to help Israel defend itself against Iran, which backs the militant group, the prime minister said: "This, as you'll appreciate, is an evolving situation.

"But what I will say is that we stand with Israel and her right to self-defence. And any relevant updates will be provided in due course."

A few hours after that statement, Mr Healey confirmed the involvement of British forces tonight - though it is not clear in what capacity or whether personnel were involved in shooting down the Iranian missiles, as US forces did.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is not yet confirming what kind of support it gave Israel, but RAF Typhoon jets, operating from an air base in Cyprus, were deployed to help Israel during Iran's previous attack in April.
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"My calls have been about the importance of creating the space and the conditions for that de-escalation, and to find that political route forward," the prime minister told reporters after his televised address.

He added that with Mr Netanyahu he was able to "make the case for a ceasefire in Gaza", which has been under siege for the past year following the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023.

The prime minister also repeated the advice for Britons in Lebanon to leave immediately, saying "we're doing everything we can to get people out, but the situation is extremely volatile".

Archive

The Government is poised to approve the extension of HS2 into Euston station, despite concerns it could saddle the taxpayer with billions of pounds in extra costs.

The move will ensure that the high-speed rail route runs into the centre of London rather than ending at Old Oak Common in the west of the capital.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will reportedly use her first Budget next month to approve funding for the project, which will also include a multi-billion-pound transformation of Euston.
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As part of any Euston expansion, the Government must also decide whether to retain Mr Sunak’s slimmed-down plans for a six-platform HS2 terminus or reinstate the original blueprint for an 11-platform layout, with a new Tube station.

Labour has been under pressure to make a swift decision on the Euston leg after two 1,700-tonne boring machines were delivered from Germany last month. The company responsible for overseeing HS2 has warned that the machines cannot be left underground indefinitely and that drilling must begin early next year.

Source: Love Bullet

Archive

Rachel Reeves will free up as much as £50 billion to spend on roads, housing, energy and other large-scale projects under plans being drawn up by officials.

The chancellor has asked the Treasury to look at changing the government’s current borrowing rules that would hand her a windfall to fulfil Labour’s pledge to increase investment in the economy.

The current system has long been criticised by economists for discouraging governments from making long-term investments that could grow the economy.

Senior government sources said that Reeves has now asked officials to draw up options for changing the way the government measures debt, which could allow the government to offset “assets”, such the £236 billion owed in student loans, against the wider national debt — freeing up more money for investment.

Economists have calculated that if such rules had been in place at the time of the last budget it would have amounted to about £50 billion worth of additional headroom.

This would not only fund the new £7 billion national wealth fund and the £8 billion cost of Great British Energy but also free up billions of pounds to invest in other infrastructure priorities such as new rail and road links and capital investment in the NHS.

However, the move will not allow Reeves to increase day to day spending — for example by reinstating winter fuel payments — as Labour has pledged this must be met entirely from annual tax receipts.

In order to meet Labour’s plans to increase day-to-day spending Reeves is widely expected to raise taxes on capital gains and change the rules around inheritance tax.

A £10 billion US investment in a new artificial intelligence data centre in Northumberland will create 4,000 jobs in the UK, according to the Government.

The deal with private equity giant Blackstone will create Europe’s biggest AI data centre in Cambois near Blyth.

Sir Keir Starmer said the investment, facilitated by the Office for Investment, showed the UK is “open for business” as he attempts to woo US bosses in New York.

As a result of the deal, around 1,200 jobs will be dedicated to the construction of the site.

Blackstone will also put £110 million into a fund for skills training and transport infrastructure in the area.

The site was bought by Blackstone earlier this year after the collapse of Britishvolt, which had planned to build electric car batteries.

The plan for Blackstone to develop the site was first revealed in April, before Sir Keir Starmer's election win.

Speaking on Wednesday 25 September, Sir Keir said: “The number one mission of my government is to grow our economy, so that hard-working British people reap the benefits and more foreign investment is a crucial part of that plan.

“New investment such as the one we’ve announced with Blackstone today is a huge vote of confidence in the UK and it proves that Britain is back as a major player on the global stage and we’re open for business.”

Archive

Steve Reed[, the Environmental Secretary,] said the “biggest ever investment” in the water industry, amounting to around £88bn in private cash, will allow the Government to “fix the foundations” of the water sector and bring an end to the sewage crisis.

Clean water campaigners have criticised the fact that bill payers will be forced to pay for the clean up of the country’s waterways, with average bills expected to rise by around £19 a year between 2025-2030.

But officials have insisted that under the Government’s reforms, every penny of cash raised will be invested into major infrastructure upgrades, rather than being syphoned off in dividends to investors.

New plans being introduced will mean water firms that fail to spend the money raised from customers on infrastructure upgrades will be refunded to bill payers.

The spending is due to be finalised by Ofwat in December when it sets out its final determination for bill rises. Its initial recommendation, published over the summer, was for £88bn to be raised through customer bills, despite the water industry asking for £105bn.
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Under the plans, around £10bn will be invested in storm overflow upgrades, £4bn to boost the country’s water supply, including building the first new reservoirs for more than a generation, and £6bn in tackling nutrient pollution, caused largely by the agriculture sector. The Government hopes that building more reservoirs will increase the UK’s water resillience [sic] and support its plans to build more new homes.
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As well as protecting investment in water infrastructure, the Government earlier this month published legislation to toughen up the laws that will see water bosses face jail time if they are found to be covering up illegal sewage dumping.

The Water (Special Measures) Bill, will also give the regulator the power to ban the payment of bonuses to water executives if they are found to be failing customers.

Regulator, the Environment Agency (EA), will also see its staffing numbers increased, while all investigations into water firms will be paid for by the sector, significantly boosting resources for the body.

The Labour Party’s largest-ever donation came from a Cayman Islands-registered hedge fund with shares worth hundreds of millions of pounds in fossil fuels, private health firms, arms manufacturers and asset managers.

While the £4m donation by Quadrature Capital is the sixth-largest in British political history, it is noteworthy not just for its size, but also its timing.

Electoral Commission records suggest Labour received the donation in the one-week window between former prime minister Rishi Sunak announcing the general election and the start of the ‘pre-poll reporting period’ in which all political donations over £11,180 had to be published weekly, rather than the quarterly norm.

This means that despite being made on 28 May, Quadrature’s generous donation was published by the Electoral Commission only last week, more than two months after Labour won the election.
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The party has received more than £8m from businesses or people linked to the financial industry since Starmer became leader in 2020 and now boasts two multi-million-pound donors from the world of hedge funds; Quadrature and Taylor, who has managed several billion-dollar funds over his career.

While Quadrature had not donated to Labour before May, one of its senior employees has contributed significantly to the party under Starmer. Daniel Luhde-Thompson, a strategic adviser at the firm, has given the party more than £500,000 this year, according to the Electoral Commission.
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Last year, the Guardian reported that despite donating to environmental charities through its climate foundation, Quadrature had holdings in fossil fuel companies worth more than $170m. The paper highlighted three holdings in particular with major polluters: ConocoPhillips, Cheniere Energy and Cenovus Energy.

[O]penDemocracy’s analysis of the firm’s latest SEC filings shows that Quadrature has since increased its holdings in Cenovus, which was this year fined millions for an oil spill that released 250,000 litres into the Atlantic Ocean. Quadrature has scaled back its holdings with the other two firms but has taken up a major $67m stake in ExxonMobil, one of the largest oil and gas producers in the world.
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UK accounts filings for the firm show profits before tax of more than £230m in the financial year ending 31 January 2023, but paid corporation tax of only £5.3m. As is noted in the accounts, had the firm paid the standard rate of UK corporation tax of 19% during that period, this would have amounted to more than £43m.