[ad_1] MPs have called for certainty and swift decision-making on the paused Ajax armoured vehicles project to protect jobs in south Wales.Testing of the vehicles was paused and several investigations are being conducted after around 30 soldiers became ill from noise and vibration during a training exercise last year.The multi-million pound Ajax vehicles are made in Merthyr Tydfil by General Dynamics, which employs around 700 people.The UK government said it
[ad_1] Matt ChorleyPresenter, BBC Radio 5 LiveGetty ImagesPolitics is a game of compromise. Labour MPs know that to get the bits they like, they might have to put up, possibly even publicly defend, the things they don't. But another government U-turn, this time on digital ID for right-to-work checks, has left them privately wondering if they should bother in future.As one North East MP, elected for the first time in
[ad_1] Redditch Borough Council has voted in favour of postponing local elections in May, after a heated meeting in which police were called. The Labour leadership has said the move will save taxpayers £192,000, and will now formally write to central government to make the request.It comes after ministers offered local authorities the opportunity to delay elections in order to support the timetable for local government reorganisation.About 50 protesters turned
[ad_1] Ditching his plans to make digital ID mandatory for workers in the UK is an almighty backtracking and dilution of one of the prime minister's flagship policy ideas of the autumn.I remember the first time Sir Keir Starmer talked publicly about his plans, because he was talking to me when he did so.It was September, and we were sheltering from the pouring rain, in an outside metal stairwell next
[ad_1] The government has dropped plans to make it compulsory to have digital ID in order to prove a right to work, the BBC understands. Digital checks on a person's right to work will be mandatory but workers will not have to offer a digital ID and will be able to use other documents such as a passport.This marks a shift from last year when the government first announced the
[ad_1] David DeansWales political reporterGetty ImagesLeaders of Welsh Labour, Plaid Cymru and Welsh Conservatives fired the starting gun on the 2026 election with heated exchanges in the Senedd on Tuesday.Plaid's Rhun ap Iorwerth claimed his party - which according to polls is vying with Reform for first place at May's election - stood for hope, while Labour First Minister Eluned Morgan accused his party of trading in fantasies about independence.Meanwhile
[ad_1] Joe Pike,Political correspondentandJoshua Nevett,Political reporterReutersPrime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is considering whether to join US President Donald Trump's Gaza peace board.The new body is part of the White House's 20-point plan to end the war between Israel and Hamas.It is expected to temporarily oversee the running of Gaza, manage its reconstruction, and be made up of world leaders.UK diplomats are seeking more clarity from the US State Department on
[ad_1] The government has insisted no decision has been made on a Chinese mega-embassy in London, after MPs on all sides warned of a potential threat to national security.The Conservatives claimed the controversial scheme would give China a "launch-pad for economic warfare".Labour, Tory, Liberal Democrat, DUP and SNP MPs all urged the government to reject the embassy plans to prevent espionage and guard against the "transnational repression" of Hong Kongers
[ad_1] A Reform politician who was suspended from Wales' parliament for using a racial slur about Chinese people has denied she is racist.Laura Anne Jones told BBC Radio Wales that the offensive word she used in a WhatsApp chat "was a term used for a takeaway" during her childhood.The former Conservative said she was "genuinely sorry" for using the slur in August 2023, had since undergone language training, and vowed
[ad_1] Health Secretary Wes Streeting has urged Labour colleagues to stop making excuses and blaming the system for the slow pace of change in public services."This excuses culture does the centre-left no favours," Streeting told a think tank conference. "If we tell the public that we can't make anything work, then why on earth would they vote to keep us in charge?"It comes after a former close aide to Sir
