Page 14 - Uk Govt

UK Parliament researcher held by UK police for China spying, says report

Hours after the arrest was made public, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi

British PM Sunak emplanes for UK after productive G20 Summit in India

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak concluded his two-day long visit to India as he departed on Sunday after attending a successful G20 Leaders Summit in New Delhi

UK PM Rishi Sunak signs new strategic pact with Singapore in India

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has agreed a new strategic partnership with Singapore during a meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on the margins of the G20 Summit in New Delhi on Saturday. Following the new UK-Singapore Strategic Partnership, Downing Street said both countries will work to conclude a "new and modern" bilateral investment treaty the first the UK has negotiated since Brexit. The pact is expected to give Singaporean companies more confidence to invest in the UK and vice-versa, creating jobs and growth for both economies. This new agreement with Singapore will take us even further in delivering our priorities and ensure that, as we map the future of the world economy, we are doing so alongside our closest partners, said Sunak in a statement from Delhi. As Prime Minister, I've put the interests of the British people front and centre of my international engagement. I am ensuring that diplomacy delivers. You have already seen that through deals that will stop

London room rental costs surpasses £1,000 per month for first time

Data compiled by SpareRoom, a website that matches people seeking roommates, shows the average rent for a single room in the capital rose 15% from a year ago to £1,013 in August

G20 Summit 2023: UK PM Rishi Sunak shares his vision for UK-India relations

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks about his family's Indian origins, deepening bilateral relationships and potential collaborations between the two nations. Here are the highlights

UK acknowledges possible encryption hurdles as online safety law looms

"If appropriate technology does not exist which meets these requirements, Ofcom cannot require its use," Parkinson said

UK PM Rishi Sunak's family in India prepares for grand G20 welcome: Report

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will land in India later this week for the G20 World Leaders' Summit and can expect a grand welcome from his relatives in New Delhi, according to a UK media report. The Daily Telegraph' reported over the weekend that Sunak's relatives will host a feast with flower bouquets and non-stop dancing to Punjabi music. Dr Gautam Dev Sood, 65, a maternal uncle of the UK Prime Minister of Punjabi heritage, said all relatives have been asked to come to the Indian capital to mark his arrival. It is a great honour for us that he is visiting his ancestral land, Sood told the newspaper. Subhash Berry, Sunak's paternal uncle, added: We can't divulge exact details but a plan is in place to welcome the (British) prime minister. We are gearing up for a night of non-stop dancing, mostly to the lively beats of the traditional Punjabi music, although I imagine we might also groove to a few English tunes along the way. The newspaper notes that Sunak is unlikely to att

UK to ban Russia's Wagner mercenary group as terrorist organisation

The UK government will table a draft proscription order in the House of Commons on Wednesday which will impose a ban on Russia's mercenary Wagner Group as a terrorist organisation. The proscription order will make it illegal to be a member of or support the Russian group in the UK, the Home Office said. Certain offences related to banned terror organisations can result in 14 years imprisonment in the country. As part of the Home Office draft order, Wagner's assets can also be categorised as terrorist property and seized. "Wagner is a violent and destructive organisation which has acted as a military tool of [President] Vladimir Putin's Russia overseas, said UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman. While Putin's regime decides what to do with the monster it created, Wagner's continuing destabilising activities only continue to serve the Kremlin's political goals. They are terrorists, plain and simple and this proscription order makes that clear in UK law, she said. The Indian-origin H

India's Covid vax rate falls 75% since Apr as US, UK ready for another shot

In recent weeks, over 70 per cent of India's current vaccinations have been adminis­tered to people in the age group of 45-60 years

UK PM Sunak appoints Grant Shapps as new defence minister in mini reshuffle

Grant Shapps, one of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's staunchest Cabinet allies, was named UK defence secretary on Thursday as Sunak began a Cabinet reshuffle ahead of a general election that is expected to take place next year. The move came after Ben Wallace formally submitted his resignation earlier in the day, honouring a promise made last month. Wallace was defence secretary for four years, overseeing Britain's military response to the war in Ukraine. Shapps, who supported Sunak during his campaign to become Conservative Party leader and prime minister last year, has been a Cabinet member since 2019, most recently serving as secretary of state for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. Wallace used his resignation letter to press for increased funding for the military, long his primary issue. I genuinely believe that over the next decade the world will get more insecure and more unstable," Wallace wrote in his letter to Sunak. We both share the belief that now is

England to be offer world-first seven-minute cancer treatment injection

The UK's National Health Service (NHS) will be the first in the world to offer an "under the skin" injection for cancer treatment, possibly decreasing treatment times by up to three quarters

UK government to hold world's first summit on AI safety in November

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said that no country will be untouched by AI and an international approach in the interconnected world

UK has no intention of becoming a place to evade justice: British Security

The United Kingdom has no intention of becoming a place where those seeking to evade justice can hide, British Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said, amid India's continuing push for extradition of billionaire fugitives Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi. Tugendhat, without citing specific cases, said legal processes must be adhered to in matters relating to extradition. "We both (the UK and India) have legal processes that must be gone through. But the UK government is absolutely clear, we have no intention of becoming a place where those who are seeking to evade justice can hide," he told PTI in an interview. Tugendhat was in India on a three-day visit from August 10-12 primarily to attend the G20 anti-corruption ministerial meeting in Kolkata. In Delhi, he held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. The British Security Minister was replying to a question on India's persistent demand for extradition of a number of economic offenders

UK PM Sunak unveils tech partnership to crack down on illegal migration

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has unveiled a voluntary partnership between social media companies and the UK government to accelerate action to tackle people smuggling content online, such as criminals sharing information about illegal English Channel crossings. In an announcement over the weekend, Sunak said the move would help meet his stop the boats target of clamping down on illegal migrants being charged large sums by human traffickers to make dangerous crossings across the high seas. The online content being targeted by the new partnership would cover discount offers for groups of people, free spaces for children, offers of false documents and false claims of safe passage all of which the government says target vulnerable people for profit and put people's lives at risk through dangerous and illegal journeys. To stop the boats, we have to tackle the business model of vile people smugglers at source, said Sunak in a statement released by 10 Downing Street. That means clamping do

Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan meets META President Nick Clegg

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday met Nick Clegg, President, Global Affairs, META and former Deputy Prime Minister, UK. The minister invited META to strengthen entrepreneurship, Digital India and Skill India for empowering the country's population. Pleased to meet Sir @nickclegg, President, Global Affairs, @Meta. Good conversations around India's talent base, tech-innovations, growing spirit of enterprise as well as skilling efforts. Invited Meta to strengthen the entrepreneurship as well as #DigitalIndia and #SkillIndia mission for empowering India's population as per the vision of Hon. PM @narendramodi ji, Pradhan tweeted. The education minister also presented 'Pattachitra', a traditional handicraft of Odisha, to Clegg.

UK opens second ballot for Young Professionals Scheme visas for Indians

The British government on Tuesday opened its second ballot under the UK-India Young Professional Scheme for Indians aged between 18 and 30 years with graduate-level qualifications for visas to the UK. The ballot, which closes on July 27, offers eligible young Indians the opportunity to live, work or study in the UK for up to two years. The second ballot of the Young Professionals Scheme is now OPEN, the British High Commission in New Delhi tweeted. If you are an Indian national between 18-30 years of age with a graduate or postgraduate qualification, consider applying for the India Young Professionals Scheme visa. Ballot closes at 1.30 pm on July 27, it said. There are a total of 3,000 places available under the scheme for the year 2023 and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) said that most places were given in the first ballot which took place in February. The remaining places will be chosen at random from this month's ballot. While it's free to enter the ballot, applicants are told

UK PM Rishi Sunak's Illegal Migration Bill clears Parliament hurdle

The British government's Illegal Migration Bill, instrumental to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's pledge to stop the boats of illegal migrants entering the country's shores, has cleared its long-drawn parliamentary hurdle and will soon become law after Royal Assent from King Charles III. Under the bill, the UK's Home Secretary will have a legal duty to detain and remove anyone entering the UK illegally. In a late-night debate in the House of Lords on Monday, further amendments to the bill were dismissed and it passed after a standoff between both Houses over the issue. In the last few weeks, the bill passed between the House of Commons and House of Lords a number of times in a process often dubbed as parliamentary ping-pong in British politics until a consensus is reached. In the Commons, former prime minister Theresa May led a series of backbench rebellions over plans to restrict access to the UK asylum system for victims of modern slavery. May, who as home secretary introduced the ...

UK signs Trans-Pacific trade bloc, to get market access of 500 mn people

The UK on Sunday formally signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade bloc, a move it says will help grow the country's economy and provide access for British businesses to a market of over 500 million people. UK Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who is also leading the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with India, signed the pact agreed earlier this year during a visit to Auckland and hailed it as a major post-Brexit win for the country. The UK will now seek to ratify the agreement, which will include parliamentary scrutiny as the CPTPP member countries complete their legislative processes to admit Britain into the trading bloc of which India is not a member. I'm delighted to be here in New Zealand to sign a deal that will be a big boost for British businesses and deliver billions of pounds in additional trade, as well as open up huge opportunities and unparalleled access to a market of over 500 million ...

UK defence minister Ben Wallace to quit at next reshuffle, step down as MP

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Sunday that he will step down from the Cabinet at the next reshuffle, expected in a few months' time, after serving four years in the job. The 53-year-old Conservative Party member of Parliament since 2005 also told The Sunday Times' that he will not stand as an MP at the next general election, expected next year. Wallace has served as defence minister under three British prime ministers Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak and has played a high-profile role in the UK's response to the Russia-Ukraine war conflict. "I went into politics in the Scottish parliament in 1999. That's 24 years. I've spent well over seven years with three phones by my bed," Wallace told the newspaper. "While I am proud to have worked with so many amazing people and helped contribute to protecting this great country, the cost of putting that ahead of my family is something I am very sad about," he said. The minister is believed to have informed Prime Minister

APP scam: It's customer's decision, no onus on banks, rules UK top court

A music teacher sued Barclays in 2020 after she was duped of £700,000 in an authorised push payment fraud