Row over tuition fees cut for European students threatens Starmer’s EU reset

Britain is in a standoff with Brussels over a demand to cut university tuition fees for European students, in a row that threatens to scupper Keir Starmer’s planned EU reset.EU officials say European students should pay “home” fees of about £9,500 a year in England and Wales as part of the negotiations over a youth mobility scheme, rather than the higher international rate, which can rise above £60,000. European students would also pay the domestic rate in Scotland, which is set at £1,820 a year, although most Scottish students qualify for free tuition. Fees for Irish students In Northern Ireland are generally capped at £4,855.However, British negotiators say they have been blindsided by the demand, which they say was not mentioned in the framework agreement signed last year and would cost British universities an estimated £140m a year

UK needs nuclear deterrent independent from US, Ed Davey to say

Britain should have a completely independent nuclear deterrent as it can no longer rely on the US, Ed Davey is expected to say on Sunday.In a speech at the Liberal Democrats spring conference, the party leader will argue that the UK should manufacture and maintain its nuclear weapons in Britain, a move that Davey acknowledges will cost billions.Davey’s speech will come amid his claims that the US president, Donald Trump, has made his support for European security “conditional” on his personal whims.“While Trump is in charge, we certainly cannot rely on America as a dependable ally in the way we used to,” Davey will say. “And we can no longer bet our nation’s security on the hope that the US won’t produce new versions of Trump in the future

Reform UK government would replace top civil servants with those ‘more likely to implement party’s priorities’

A Reform UK government would expect to dismiss the top civil servant in every government department and replace them with people seen as more likely to implement the party’s priorities, the Guardian has learned.Senior Reform figures have concluded that the current crop of permanent secretaries, the lead civil servant in each department, are not up to the necessary standard. Some would be replaced by outsiders, and others by existing officials viewed as more suitable.The plan has prompted warnings that a shift towards a less stable and more politicised civil service could result in the loss of significant expertise and of institutional memory, and would make government less effective.Nigel Farage’s party has promised it will enact a radical programme

Phil Woolas, former Labour minister, dies of brain cancer aged 66

The former Labour MP minister Phil Woolas has died of brain cancer, his family and close friends have announced.Woolas, 66, was elected to parliament to represent Oldham East and Saddleworth as part of Labour’s landslide victory in the 1997 general election. He remained in Westminster for New Labour’s entire 13-year stretch in power.In government, Woolas held several ministerial roles, including being the minister of state for local government, the environment, and borders and immigration, positions that he held sequentially until Labour’s fall from power.In a statement announcing his death on Saturday, his family and close friends said: “For more than a year he battled the brain cancer glioblastoma

‘We are a completely different political party’: inside the Greens’ membership boom

It is, as one Green activist put it, a never-ending series of “constantly good problems to have”. But how does a party adapt to the sudden trebling of its membership? And when a majority of people in an organisation are new, is it even the same thing anymore?The basic facts alone are startling. Before Zack Polanski took over as leader last September, the Greens in England and Wales had around 66,000 members. They are now at 215,000, and still rising at speed.This means the party has many more people to knock on doors and fold leaflets, as seen with the vast numbers of canvassers the party could call on in winning last month’s Gorton and Denton byelection

Wealthy British nationals fleeing Gulf conflict bypass UK to avoid tax bills

Wealthy UK nationals fleeing war in the Gulf are seeking sanctuary in countries such as Ireland and France to avoid hefty tax bills back home.In the face of possible demands from HM Revenue and Customs, high-net-worth individuals who had been living in the United Arab Emirates and neighbouring countries are hoping to wait out the missile and drone attacks elsewhere rather than return to the UK.With only about three weeks remaining in the current financial year, many overseas residents have already “spent” their allocation of days in Britain without incurring tax liabilities. Some are seeking guidance from HMRC on whether they would be granted 60 extra days under an “exceptional circumstances” provision.Nimesh Shah, the chief executive of advisory firm Blick Rothenberg, said: “I’ve had a disproportionate number of calls from people wanting to leave the UAE in recent weeks