United Kingdom News Listings
UK News: Angela Rayner says restrictions may be placed on new social housing to prevent loss of stock
Ministers may stop new council houses in England from being sold under the right to buy scheme, Angela Rayner has indicated.
The deputy prime minister said the government would introduce restrictions on new social housing “so we aren’t losing that stock”. Continue reading…
http://dlvr.it/TG49nc
UK News: Prime minister’s chief fixer says UK relationship with US is strong and will continue with Trump in the White House
In his interviews this morning Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, declined to criticise the way Kamala Harris ran her presidential election campaign, saying it was not for him to “lecture” another centre-left party on how it operated.
But he said the result did show the need for governments to act on living standards. He told LBC:
In the budget last week, you saw us raising the minimum wage, making sure the triple lock was kept for the next few years, keeping the freeze on fuel duty – issues which people care about on a month to month basis as they work out their budget.
And I think that was a big theme in the US election, and it’s something that was at the heart of our budget that was passed by the House of Commons last night.
Karen Pierce is ambassador in the United States at the moment. She is doing an excellent job. She’s got the full confidence of the British government, and we want her to keep on doing the job that she’s doing. And I think she’s going to be a very important interlocutor and adviser for the UK government in this period of transition.
I can’t say exactly when her term will end. She’s been doing it for a few years. She’s there for the moment, she’ll be there for a while, and she’s doing an absolutely fantastic job for her country. Continue reading…
http://dlvr.it/TG49kq
UK foreign secretary, asked about calling the US president-elect a ‘sociopath’, says ‘there are things I know now that I didn’t know back then’
This is what David Lammy, the foreign secretary, told the BBC’s Newscast podcast about how the government would respond to Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs of at least 10% on imports from Britain and other countries. Economists say this could halve UK growth.
Asked if the government would seek an exemption, Lammy said he hoped Trump would realise his plan would be counter-productive. He said:
We will seek to ensure and to get across to the United States – and I believe that they would understand this – that hurting your closest allies cannot be in your medium or long term interests.
Not even vaguely. I’ve got to say, I found him to be a very gracious host.
He did offer me a second portion of chicken. He was very generous, very gracious, very keen to make sure that we felt relaxed and comfortable in his surroundings. He was funny. He was warm about the UK. Very warm about the royal family. I’ve got to tell you, [he] loves Scotland …
I suppose what I’m saying is I’ve met the man and in the end diplomacy – actually, just common manners – is in particular building relationships [with] people. And I think he’s someone that we can build a relationship with in our national interest because we must.
He didn’t seem to think it mattered a few weeks ago.
Look, I think that what you say as a backbencher and what you do wearing the the real duty of public office are two different things. And I am foreign secretary. There are things I know now that I didn’t know back then, and that’s the truth of it. Continue reading…
http://dlvr.it/TG49S5
Firm issues another profit warning after review into ‘understated’ build costs in south division
Shares in the FTSE 100 housebuilder Vistry plunged on Friday after it issued a second profit warning in as many months and said cost overruns on building projects were worse than previously thought.
Vistry was the top faller on the blue chip index of stocks, with shares down 18%, wiping about £500m off the value of the company. Continue reading…
http://dlvr.it/TG49Mt
