UNITED KINGDOM

Labour mayor of Greater Manchester joins those criticising Ratcliffe over his comments Sir Simon McDonald, the former permanent secretary of the Foreign Office, has urged No 10 to do “more due diligence” as it prepares to replace the cabinet secretary, Chris Wormald, with Antonia Romeo, the frontrunner for the role. Rowena Mason has the story.Steven Swinford from the Times says McDonald’s comments have provoked a furious backlash from people within government. He has posted this comment from a government source.This is a desperate attempt from a senior male official whose time has passed but spent their career getting Britain into

ONS reports GDP growth increased in final three months of 2025 after 0.1% growth in previous three monthsBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK economy expanded by 0.1% in the final three months of last year, according to official data, despite signs that tax speculation around Rachel Reeves’s budget had dampened spending.Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the economy grew at the same rate of 0.1% as the previous three months. Economists had been expecting a rise of 0.2%. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/12/uk-economy-grows-rachel-reeves-budget-ons-gdp-growth Author : Tom Knowles Publish date : 2026-02-12 07:01:00 Copyright for syndicated

The call for a leadership ballot followed a wave of resignations from the shadow frontbench on Thursday morningFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSussan Ley’s embattled leadership has suffered a major blow, with key backer and Queensland senator James McGrath resigning from the frontbench in order to back Angus Taylor.Taylor’s supporters are growing increasingly confident the former shadow defence minister will win Friday’s Liberal leadership ballot, set down for 9am at Parliament House. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/12/angus-taylor-liberal-party-spill-motion-sussan-ley Author : Dan Jervis-Bardy and Tom McIlroy Publish date

Chris Minns doubles down on support for NSW police, stating officers would ‘never have disrupted a prayer service … unless it was in the middle of a riot’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, says he will not apologise to the Muslim community after police disrupted a group of men praying during a Sydney protest against the visiting Israeli president, Isaac Herzog.Muslim groups including the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA) and the Australian Federal Imams Council (Afic) have called on the premier and