UK politics

UK politics

DPD, which reported pre-tax profits of nearly 200m last year and raised the pay of its highest-paid director by 90,000 to 1.5m including bonuses, told self-employed drivers it was unilaterally cutting their delivery rates. The drivers said the move would cost them about 6,000 each per year or up to 8,000 for those who take on extra deliveries at Christmas.

For the past few decades, Alex Karp has stayed largely under the radar, but a new biography, reveals him to be a complex, thoughtful, often contradictory personality, with a background that explains many of his insecurities. Steve Rose profiled the fitness-obsessed billionaire tech leader whose business is at the heart of many governments, including the US, where its AI-powered data-analysis technology is fuelling the deportations being carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Pentagon's unmanned drone programme, police departments' (allegedly racist) profiling of potential criminals and much more besides.

The 21st century has so far seen two simultaneous electoral developments in western Europe: the decline of social-democratic parties and the rise of far-right parties. This has created the powerful narrative that social democrats are losing votes to the far right, in particular because of their (alleged) pro-immigration positions. And although research shows that their voters mainly moved to centre-right and green parties, social-democratic parties have been chasing this mythical left behind voter ever since.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.

He needs to explain the comments, or alleged comments that were made, and he needs to do that as soon as possible. He hasn't got a good track record in relation to this because Sarah Pochin, his MP, made some clearly racist comments and Nigel Farage has done absolutely nothing about it. He added: The man is spineless. If that had been someone in my party, I'd have dealt with it straight away.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill passed its first stage in the Lords in September, but will only become law if MPs and peers can agree the final wording before the current session of Parliament ends in the spring. The bill, which was passed by MPs in an historic vote in June, must be approved by both Houses of Parliament before becoming law.

Andreas Adamides, CEO of Helm, said, "Our members feel betrayed, ignored, and genuinely let down by a government that promised growth but has delivered nothing but uncertainty and indifference. "These aren't faceless corporates-they're founders who've risked everything to build businesses, create jobs, and drive the economy forward. "They wanted to believe Labour understood them. Instead, they've read endless speculation about punishing tax rises and listened

"all four governments failed to appreciate the scale of the threat or the urgency of response it demanded in the early part of 2020." Ministers were in part relying on "misleading assurances" that the UK was prepared, she said. Government scientists underestimated how quickly the virus was spreading and in the early days were advising restrictions should not be introduced until the spread of the virus was nearer its peak to help build up herd immunity, Lady Hallett added.

In September, the government announced plans to issue all legal residents a digital identity by August 2029, which in the first instance is set to be used to prove eligibility to work. Prime minister Keir Starmer said digital IDs were "an enormous opportunity for the UK." As well as making it tougher to work illegally, they would also "offer ordinary citizens countless benefits, like being able to prove your identity to access key services swiftly," he said.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.

Gambling companies don't lose very often but nor are they usually playing a game of poker against the chancellor of the exchequer. At next week's budget, Rachel Reeves is widely expected to announce an increase in the duties that bookies and casinos pay to the Treasury, ending months of speculation and frenzied lobbying designed to sway the government. The tax rise could cost the industry

All of the users of the tunnel pay for access. When business rates go up, that's split amongst the different users, said John Keefe, director of public and corporate affairs. At this stage, the numbers aren't one hundred percent known, because we're hoping we can talk a bit more with the government about this But there is a mechanism whereby everybody contributes.

A man has pleaded guilty to the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Warwickshire, in a case that prompted anti-asylum protests in Nuneaton. Ahmad Mulakhil, 23, of no fixed abode, changed his plea at Warwick crown court on Friday, admitting to the single charge of rape of a child under 13 on 22 July. Mulakhil, an Afghan national, had previously denied abducting a child, three counts of rape and two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13 at a hearing on 28 August.