News UK

2022 - 6 - 6

PM meeting with Prime Minister of Estonia: 6 June 2022 (GOV.UK)

The Prime Minister welcomed Prime Minister Kaja Kallas of Estonia to Downing Street this afternoon to discuss how NATO partners could further strengthen the ...

The Prime Minister said that Estonia could depend on the UK to support it, both through NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force, as well as through the UK and Estonia’s strong bilateral relationship. Discussing the importance of the NATO leaders summit later this month, both leaders denounced Putin’s abhorrent invasion of Ukraine, and the Prime Minister said the Russian President was the author of his own embarrassment. Meeting for the fourth time this year, the Prime Minister reinforced the United Kingdom’s commitment to Estonia’s security and stability, which he said was demonstrated by the UK sending an additional battlegroup to the Baltic nation.

City donations worth £15m raise concerns over influence on UK ... (The Guardian)

Total donated to parties by financial firms and individuals tied to the sector over two years, report says.

It is also calling for a cap on political party donations and the amount that politicians can be paid for speeches, as well as requiring all party parliamentary groups to disclose sources of funding. The report, titled The Power of Big Finance: How to Reclaim Our Democracy From the Banking Lobby, found 47 MPs received £2.3m between them – an average of £48,936 each – from the financial sector between January 2020 and December 2021. Concerns have been raised over the City’s influence on Westminster, after a report found financial firms and individuals tied to the sector donated £15m to political parties and gave £2m to MPs during the pandemic.

CMA provisionally finds illegal price-fixing of Rangers FC merchandise (GOV.UK)

The CMA has provisionally found that Elite Sports, JD Sports and Rangers Football Club broke competition law by fixing the retail prices of certain ...

Individuals involved in cartel activity may also in certain defined circumstances be granted immunity from criminal prosecution for the cartel offence under the Enterprise Act 2002 and from competition disqualification proceedings. The final decision will be taken by a case decision group, which is separate from the investigation team and was not involved in the decision to issue the statement of objections. The statement of objections will not be published. The CMA is also concerned that Elite and JD Sports – without involvement from Rangers –colluded to fix the retail prices of Rangers-branded clothing, including training wear and replica kit, over a longer period. Any business found to have infringed the prohibitions in the Competition Act 1998 can be fined up to 10% of its annual worldwide group turnover. All 3 parties allegedly colluded to stop JD Sports undercutting the retail price of the shirt on Elite’s Gers Online store.

New UK centre will help fight information war (BBC News)

The Centre for Emerging Technology and Security (CETaS) will be based at the Alan Turing Institute, the UK's centre for data science and artificial intelligence ...

Experts also warn Russia is likely to adapt and up its game. One official told the authors that even though 35% of intelligence comes from open source, it receives only 1% of funding relative to classified sources. US and UK governments have been active in using open-source information to be able to talk publicly about what their secret sources are indicating. A crucial problem is cultural bias. This could include fields like automated recognition of military vehicles from satellite imagery or social media, allowing human experts to spend their time on trickier problems. "It was carried out behind barbed wire in very, very tightly controlled circumstances.

NDA group employees honoured by Her Majesty The Queen (GOV.UK)

She is joined by Professor Cherry Tweed, Nuclear Waste Services Chief Scientific Advisor, and June Love, Community Relations Manager at Dounreay Site ...

Magnox Ltd and Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd Chair Lawrie Haynes was also recognised in the list. This is an incredible honour and came completely out of the blue. We have also taken significant steps on the journey towards our long-term mission of constructing a Geological Disposal Facility thanks to Cherry’s significant expertise and involvement in that important programme.

Mission for fairer, greener jobs market agreed at UK-led ... (GOV.UK)

Today, 7 June, member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) agreed to ambitious new plans to boost sustainability and ...

The OECD is a group of 38 like-minded countries. The UK minister addressed her counterparts with insight into the UK’s successful experience of building a strong labour market post-pandemic. The importance of focusing on decent, sustainable and high-quality work for all was shared by international ministers around the table today, along with a commitment to promote life-long learning and build inclusivity in our workforce.

UK-Malaysia climate ties strengthened with new Climate Partnership (GOV.UK)

FCDO Minister for the Pacific and International Environment, Lord Zac Goldsmith, has today (7 June), signed a new Partnership with the Malaysian Environment ...

Action to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss requires commitment and collaboration. - collaboration on climate and biodiversity issues The ‘UK-Malaysia memorandum of understanding 2022’ will see both countries work together to step up action on climate and biodiversity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by sharing knowledge and technical expertise to build capacity and increase ambition.