Farage referred to the new unit and said Burnham was setting it up ‘using the excuse that Russia wants to interfere with elections’ The former Labour minister leading the government’s review into youth unemployment has written to 100 firms to ask them to provide work placements and jobs for young people, the Press Association reports. PA says: Alan Milburn , who was commissioned by former prime minister Keir Starmer to lead the government’s review into worklessness, has approached “business leaders” in sectors including rail, transport and utilities to ask them to provide more chances for young people. The Milburn review said Royal Mail, Octopus Energy, Greene King and Lloyds bank are among the companies who are already offering opportunities to school and university leavers. They are taking part in the review’s First Chance scheme, which has come from the review. Continue reading...

Hundreds of protesters turned out at Gosport thinking that asylum seekers were arriving there Six people have been arrested after anti-migrant protesters gathered at a marina in Hampshire in the mistaken belief that a small boat was due to arrive. Heeding calls from the far-right campaigner Daniel Thomas, hundreds of protesters gathered early on Tuesday evening at Gosport in Hampshire, aiming to disrupt any disembarkation of asylum seekers. The Border Force vessels carrying them landed instead in Dover early on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Cooperation on OceanEye, which aims to create ‘real-time’ model of world’s oceans, comes amid efforts to boost EU ties UK politics live – latest updates Europe live – latest updates Britain is to join a major new ocean science programme, led by the EU, to better forecast extreme weather and climate events, the environment secretary is to announce in New York. The announcement on Wednesday will come as Andy Burnham’s government aims to rebuild the UK’s relationship with Europe, and follows warnings this year’s “supersized” El Niño, tracked in the Pacific Ocean , will fuel more extreme weather globally. Continue reading...

PM says his comments last year were deliberately misinterpreted by Keir Starmer and his advisers UK politics live – latest updates Andy Burnham has said he still believes the UK is far too exposed to global shocks, defending comments last year when he said the UK should be less “in hock” to the bond markets. He said the comments had been deliberately misinterpreted by the former prime minister Keir Starmer and his advisers and said his aim was not more borrowing and spending but a far more resilient economy. Continue reading...

Author Russell Warfield argues the Green leader’s brand of politics is not new but has evolved in the party over time Watermelons: the term used to describe the members of the Green party of England and Wales who are green on the outside and red on the inside. People in this faction are environmentalists but bleed socialist ideologies. Of the roughly 160,000 people who have flocked to the party since Zack Polanski became leader last year, most are thought to be in this camp, drawn to a political space on the left that they see as vacated by the Labour party. Continue reading...

Eleven per cent increase in fatalities last year partly down to presence of nitazenes in Scotland’s illicit drug market New forms of a powerful synthetic opioid have contributed to a sharp rise in Scottish drug deaths, with the latest data showing an 11% increase in fatalities last year Annual figures released by National Records of Scotland (NRS) on Wednesday recorded 1,133 drug-related deaths in 2025, 116 more than the previous year. The 2025 figures are the sixth highest on record. Continue reading...