Campaigners say placing staff from Shell and BAE Systems in ministries creates potential for improper influence. David Lammy is facing possible legal action over a plan to invite staff from the oil firm Shell and the defence firm BAE Systems to work inside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The…

Scientists received €735m in grants in 2024 after UK rejoined programme as associate member post-Brexit. While the UK has to play catch-up, entering three years into the seven-year 2020-27 funding programme, data shows British scientists are punching above their weight with €735m (£635m) in grants in 2024. That ranks the…

Unemployment remains steady but vacancy rates drop and pay growth slows. Employers cut back on annual pay increases and pared back hiring in recent months as the economic slowdown took its toll on the labour market. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), released on Tuesday, showed that Britain’s…

Foreign criminals from 15 more countries face deportation before they have a chance to appeal in an expansion of the UK government’s “deport first, appeal later” scheme. Ministers are extending the scheme, which applies in England and Wales and was restarted in 2023, to cover 23 countries including India, Bulgaria,…

It is unlikely that Vladimir Putin will arrive in Alaska on Friday to present Donald Trump with a territorial demand for the 49th state, sold by Tsar Alexander II to the US for $7.2m (£5.4m) in 1867. The Russian president, after all, has another land deal on his mind –…