The Defense Secretary has announced up to £80m will be invested in a new computer system to boost the RAF's speed and accuracy. Known as Project Guardian, the Air Command and Control System will support early detection and rapid response to potential hostile or suspect aircraft.
The Bank of England is likely to raise interest rates twice this year and twice in 2019, despite a sluggish economy, says a forecasting body. Bank governor Mark Carney has said a rate rise is “likely” this year, but any increases will be gradual.
United States president Donald Trump is planning on visiting the UK in the summer, it is reported. Mr. Trump has not visited the UK since he was elected to the White House in November 2016, with a potential visit to London to open the US Embassy in January not taking place.
Fresh doubts have been raised over Theresa May’s hopes for a deal on future relations with Europe, after reports that her proposals for the Irish border have been comprehensively rejected in Brussels. One report of a meeting this week between Britain’s lead negotiator Olly Robbins and senior EU officials suggested that the Prime Minister’s plans for avoiding a hard border with the Republic were subjected to “a systematic and forensic annihilation”.
Washington’s request that other countries also expel Russian diplomats is improper, Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa said. “I did not take this request well, I said it was improper and it should not have been made,” the top diplomat said as cited by the El Pais newspaper.
Hundreds of thousands of the poorest families in Britain are going without basic necessities, according to two separate surveys. Citizens Advice said as many as 140,000 households are going without power, as they cannot afford to top up their prepayment meters. And the Living Wage Foundation - which campaigns for fair pay - said many of the poorest parents are skipping meals.
We, the G7 foreign ministers, of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America and the High Representative of the European Union, are united in condemning, in the strongest possible terms, the attack that took place against Sergei and Yulia Skripal, using a nerve agent in Salisbury, United Kingdom, on March 4, 2018. A British police officer and numerous civilians were exposed in the attack and required hospital treatment, and the lives of many more innocent British civilians have been threatened. We express our deepest sympathies to them all and our admiration and support for the UK emergency services for their courageous response.
Prime Minister Theresa May suffered two major defeats on Wednesday after a majority of the upper House of Parliament adopted an amendment supporting continued membership in the EU customs union after Brexit. The amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill, which passed by 348 votes to 225, forces the government to report to Parliament by Oct. 31 on what steps it has taken to remain in the customs union.
Britain and the US have issued a formal alert about “malicious cyber activity” by Russia amid warnings that relations with Moscow have hit an all-time low. The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) combined with the FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security to issue an unprecedented joint “technical alert” setting out the threat across the public and private sectors.
The United Kingdom has welcomed the result of April 15 referendum on taking Guatemala’s territorial, maritime and insular dispute with Belize to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.