UNITED KINGDOM

Seven in 10 experienced indirect racism, rising to nine in 10 Palestinian and Jewish students and staff, report finds. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Refugee Council of Australia has condemned a leaked proposal by the Liberal party to ban migrants from regions controlled by declared terrorist groups, describing the plan as an “appalling idea straight out of Donald Trump’s playbook”.Details of the leaked plan drafted under Sussan Ley emerged on Monday signalling a hardline approach to immigration as the party hemorrhages votes to One Nation.Any person applying to visit or migrate

Competing domestic priorities, Treasury borrowing limits and already nervous lenders are among the many obstaclesKeir Starmer has few options if he wants to increase annual defence spending by up to £14bn before the end of this parliament.In last summer’s spending review, the government set out plans to increase defence spending from 2.3% of national income, or gross domestic product (GDP), in 2024-25 – about £66bn, to 2.6% in 2028-29. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/16/keir-starmer-limited-options-further-defence-spending-rise Author : Phillip Inman Publish date : 2026-02-16 17:21:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

The government was warned by its lawyers that such a move could be illegalIn his Q&A with journalists, Keir Starmer was also asked to respond to a report by the BBC’s James Landale saying he is looking at plans to raise defence spending to 3% of GDP by the end of this parliament. In the past Starmer has just said that he would like to do this at some point in the next parliament.In his reply, Starmer said that at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend he was arguing that the UK, and Europe as a whole, needs to