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Category: UK News

  • When Starmer meets Xi… 

    When Starmer meets Xi… 

    Prime minister wants bilateral at G20 to lead to closer ties with China, which he sees as key to faster growth…reports Asian Lite News

    Keir Starmer will become the first UK prime minister in six years to meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, promising to turn the page on UK-China relations by building “a pragmatic and serious relationship”. 

    Starmer and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, have been pursuing a thawing of relations with the world’s second-largest economy on pragmatic grounds, suggesting that the UK cannot achieve its growth ambitions without better terms with China. 

    But the move to deepen ties is likely to be controversial among human rights groups and backbenchers, and with several high-profile Conservative MPs who have had sanctions imposed on them by China. 

    Tom Tugendhat and Alicia Kearns, both prominent Tory critics of China, called on Starmer to use the meeting to raise with Xi the plight of UK nationals including Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy media owner detained and tried in Hong Kong. 

    Starmer will meet the Chinese president on Monday in Rio de Janeiro at the G20 summit, a meeting of world leaders that is likely to be marked by divisions over the climate crisis and Ukraine. No British prime minister has met Xi since Theresa May visited Beijing in 2018 in the midst of a trade push during Brexit negotiations, though Boris Johnson spoke to the Chinese president during the pandemic. 

    Since then, relations have significantly cooled because of cyber threats, a human rights crackdown in Hong Kong and the sanctions against British MPs. Rishi Sunak attempted to renew relations at the G20 summit in 2022 where a bilateral was planned but cancelled due to Ukraine developments. But Conservative leaders have toyed with designating China a threat to British security – stronger language than the US had used. 

    Those to have had Chinese sanctions imposed upon them include Tugendhat, the former security minister; Nusrat Ghani, the Commons deputy speaker; and Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader. Tugendhat said: “Jimmy Lai – a British citizen – is being put on a show trial in Hong Kong. Others are being threatened here in the UK. 

    “It is essential that Starmer raises Mr Lai’s case and the threats we are witnessing against other British nationals who have spoken out who are now here in the UK. Starmer must clearly defend Britain against Beijing’s authoritarian regime.” Kearns, who is a shadow foreign minister, said: “The sham trial of British citizen Jimmy Lai recommences on Wednesday, yet it is glaringly absent from Starmer’s comments. British interests are achieved by being set out clearly, not as ‘by the ways’ cast to the sidelines of discussions. Starmer needs to call for Jimmy’s release now, and be unequivocal with Xi Jinping.” 

    The foreign secretary, David Lammy, visited China last month in the first signal that the new Labour government saw a renewal of better ties as a priority. Reeves, who is understood to be taking a leading role in pursuing new economic opportunities with China, will head to Beijing in January. In remarks before his meeting with Xi, Starmer sought to head off gloomy predictions for the summit, at which there will be a number of world leaders who are facing election defeat. Additionally, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has said he will not attend the summit, but his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will be there. 

    “It is in the UK’s best interests to engage on the global stage – whether that’s building strong and fruitful partnerships with our closest allies or being frank with those whose values differ from our own,” Starmer said. The prime minister expects to meet at least eight world leaders in one-to-one discussions in Rio. 

    Speaking to reporters en route to the summit, Starmer underlined the need for a realistic approach, saying it was important that he met Xi and stressing the potential economic benefits – without mentioning the potential security risks to better relations. “We are both global players, global powers, both permanent members of the security council and of the G20. China’s economy is obviously the second biggest in the world,” he said. 

    “It’s one of our biggest trading partners and therefore I will be having serious, pragmatic discussions with the president when I meet him.” Asked if the intention was to improve on the relations since the Conservative government, Starmer said: “I do think it’s important that we have serious engagement, which is what I will be pursuing in my bilateral at the G20.” 

    No 10 said that any change in relations would be “rooted at all times in the UK’s national interests” but said there were “clear areas of mutual cooperation – including on international stability, climate and growth”. It said Starmer would be “firm on the need to have honest conversations on areas of disagreement, while competing and challenging where we have to.”  

    Starmer has faced some criticism at home for the number of days he has spent abroad since taking office, and this trip amounts to another four days away from the UK. Starmer defended the trip – the first visit by a British prime minister to Brazil in 12 years – as a chance to catalyse relations with rising economic powers in Latin America, suggesting common ground with Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on green energy and protecting workers’ rights. ]

    ALSO READ: UK’s envoy on superbugs says scale of threat underestimated 

  • Smyth abuse report triggers crisis in Church of England 

    Smyth abuse report triggers crisis in Church of England 

    The Church of England is facing its biggest crisis in modern times, and there is no clear pathway to recovery….reports Asian Lite News

    As the faithful give thanks to God in England’s 16,500 parish churches on Sunday, beneath the comforting ritual of prayers and hymns will run a strong undercurrent of shame, anger, sadness and dread. 

    The Church of England is facing its biggest crisis in modern times, and there is no clear pathway to recovery. The archbishop of Canterbury has been forced to resign, other senior figures are facing calls to quit and the church is reeling from its shameful failures over a prolific and sadistic child abuser. 

    A 253-page report detailing the appalling brutality of the late barrister John Smyth, repeated cover-ups and omissions by church figures, and the lifelong trauma suffered by victims has triggered an “existential crisis” for the C of E, according to Linda Woodhead, professor of moral and social theology at King’s College London. “It’s been a very, very long time coming, like lots of crises, but this is a critical moment.” 

    “It’s seismic,” said Tim Wyatt, who writes The Critical Friend, a weekly newsletter about the Church of England. “It’s unprecedented for an archbishop to resign over a crisis of their own making. It’s causing massive ructions up and down the institution. Now the sword is hanging over other senior leaders and bishops. Welby’s resignation could be the first stone rippling out to a much bigger crisis within the church.” 

    The context to the report on Smyth was, he said, “more than 10 years of damning investigations into C of E abuse failures. Bishops, clergy and senior lay volunteers have been exposed as abusers, and church figures knew about the abuse in some instances and failed to stop it or report it to the police.” 

    He added: “So there’s been a simmering anger among churchgoers and survivors of abuse that no one has been held accountable. What’s happening now is a culmination of many years of resentment building up, and finally it’s erupted. 

    “We’re now hearing talk of sweeping the stables clean and starting afresh. The sense you get from many in the church is a feeling that the whole hierarchy, not just the man at the top, is complicit and tainted.” 

    The shock waves being felt through the C of E have some parallels with those that engulfed the Roman Catholic church after the Boston Globe 2002 exposé of widespread child sexual abuse by priests and its cover-up. The reverberations were felt around the world as the Catholic church’s dark secrets were forced into the light, and its authority was severely damaged. 

    In the C of E, since Welby became archbishop of Canterbury almost 12 years ago, report after report has detailed sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse stretching back half a century or more. Welby has made repeated apologies for the church’s failures, and under his watch millions of pounds have been pumped into improving safeguarding. 

    “Parishes are doing a much better job on safeguarding,” said Woodhead. “It’s a different church at the grassroots level. Lots of parishes are doing wonderful work with great local lay leadership and some very good clergy. They don’t get much support or money from the national church.” 

    Wyatt said: “Some people talk about there being two churches of England – the local parish, increasingly run by volunteers, and the professional elite at Church House [the C of E’s headquarters] or Lambeth Palace [the office of the archbishop of Canterbury]. 

    “But we shouldn’t fall into the idea that mistakes are only made by those at the top of the tree. A lot of the errors made in the Smyth case were made by local people who found out about Smyth’s abuse and looked the other way – and carried on their ascent through the hierarchy.” 

    The repercussions of the Smyth scandal and other abuse cases will inevitably be at the top of the new archbishop’s in-tray. Building confidence in the C of E’s safeguarding processes and the way it treats abuse survivors will be of the greatest urgency, but it will not be the only issue that needs attention. 

    The next archbishop will also inherit the thorny and unresolved question of how far the C of E goes in its approach to LGBTQ+ equality. The issue has highlighted stark differences between conservatives and progressives, not just in the C of E but in the 85 million-strong Anglican Communion. 

    ALSO READ: UK’s CHOICE BETWEEN EU AND TRUMP 

  • UK’s envoy on superbugs says scale of threat underestimated 

    UK’s envoy on superbugs says scale of threat underestimated 

    Superbugs kill more than a million people each year but neither governments nor the public recognise the scale of the threat, doctors complain..reports Asian Lite News

    The rising death toll from drug-resistant bugs is “very scary” and people do not even realise it is happening, the UK’s special envoy for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has said. 

    Superbugs kill more than a million people each year but neither governments nor the public recognise the scale of the threat, doctors complain. The crisis is largely driven by the misuse of antibiotics – about 70% of which are given to livestock – which encourages the evolution of microbes too strong for modern medicine to handle. 

    “We need to use antibiotics safely and appropriately,” said Sally Davies, who stepped down as England’s chief medical officer in 2019 to champion the UK’s fight against superbugs. 

    By 2050 it is projected that drug-resistant bugs will kill nearly 2 million people each year and play a role in the deaths of 8 million people. The figures put AMR in a similar ballpark to the Covid-19 pandemic, which the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates led to 4m excess deaths in 2020 and 10m in 2021. 

    Data published on Thursday showed a rise in serious antibiotic-resistant infections in 2023 to 66,730 cases, above pre-pandemic levels. E coli caused 65% of cases in the UK over the past five years. 

    “Some people talk about [AMR] being a pandemic – it is,” Davies said. “Is it a slow-developing one, an insidious one, or what? I don’t mind the words you want to use, but it’s pretty awful.” 

    World leaders have taken little action to cut AMR-related deaths but they promised to reduce them by 10% by 2030 at the UN general assembly in September. Public health experts are frustrated by the lack of interest from governments and the lack of awareness among the public. 

    “It’s clearly a lack of prioritisation – and that must be a failure of our communication,” Davies said. “That’s in part the name, ‘antimicrobial resistance’, AMR, in part the complexity, and the big bit that’s hidden … they [doctors] don’t tell people what they’re dying of.” 

    Davies, who has previously served on the executive board of the WHO, lost her goddaughter to antimicrobial resistance two years ago. “It was horrible. She had cystic fibrosis, she knew she had AMR, and she knew she was going to die of it because it was infecting her lung transplant,” she said. 

    “She said to me: Sally, you’ve worked on this for years, you must use my case [to raise awareness]. She was very brave.” 

    Doctors have urged people to play their part in fighting the rise of superbugs by only using antibiotics when prescribed them and then taking the full course. 

    They also point to the large role that animal agriculture plays behind the scenes. The growing hunger for meat is increasing demand for livestock and use of antibiotics – some of which are used to treat animals that are not sick, sometimes as a substitute for keeping them in clean conditions, Davies said. 

    “That drives the development of resistance,” she said, “which can then be on the meat when it’s sold, and people pick it up that way. It can be passed to abattoir workers who go home to their families. And it definitely does get to farmworkers and their families.” 

    ALSO READ: UK’s CHOICE BETWEEN EU AND TRUMP 

  • Warning against cheap cosmetic surgery 

    Warning against cheap cosmetic surgery 

    Wes Streeting spoke out after a spate of deaths among women who had travelled to Turkey for aesthetic treatment such as a Brazilian butt lift (BBL). ..reports Asian Lite News

    Britons should resist the temptation to have cosmetic surgery abroad at “rock-bottom” prices in case they are harmed by substandard care, the health secretary has said. 

    Wes Streeting spoke out after a spate of deaths among women who had travelled to Turkey for aesthetic treatment such as a Brazilian butt lift (BBL). 

    An inquest this week in Winchester, Hampshire, heard that Hayley Dowell, 38, died in October last year after paying £7,000 to have the procedure, as well as liposuction and a tummy tuck. 

    “My strong advice to British travellers is, if the offer looks too good to be true, I suspect it is too good to be true,” Streeting said. “[People should] think very carefully before flying overseas, paying what looks like a kind of rock-bottom attractive price, because you may end up paying the consequences for years to come as a result of injuries, which in the worst cases can be life-changing. 

    “So I would urge before travelling abroad, think very carefully before accessing those cosmetic treatments that are currently being marketed at rock-bottom prices, but also, in too many cases, offer substandard care.” 

    Streeting plans to work with organisations overseas to try to improve the safety and quality of care at hospitals and clinics that provide medical tourism. “But we also need to send a strong message to the British public to manage the risks, to do their homework and think very carefully before taking up offers that are too good to be true.” 

    Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England’s national medical director, also urged caution, and cited the extra pressure that treating victims of botched cosmetic treatment abroad puts on the NHS. 

    “It is not fair that the NHS is left to pick up the pieces of botched Brazilian butt lifts. Not only are they potentially fatal, having the highest death rate of all cosmetic procedures, but dodgy procedures mean the NHS then has to repair the damage, landing taxpayers with a hefty bill too,” he said. 

    “NHS resources are precious, and I’d urge anyone considering a BBL to think twice before taking up an offer that seems too good to be true.” 

    UK government officials met counterparts in Turkey last year after concerns were raised by the death of Melissa Kerr, 31, during a BBL procedure, which is intended to enlarge the size of someone’s bottom. 

    The coroner who presided at the inquest into her death ruled that she had not received enough information to enable her to make a safe decision about the procedure before going to Istanbul. 

    Figures from the British Association of Aesthetic and Plastic Surgeons show that Turkey is by far the most popular destination for Britons having cosmetic surgery abroad, with 69% of patients going there. Other countries include the Dominican Republic (7%), Brazil (6%) and Tunisia (4%). 

    The spate of deaths has prompted the Royal College of Surgeons of England to convene a summit to improve patient safety. 

    “After years of inaction from officials, we are now convening an urgent meeting with experts across health, advertising and trade authorities, together with foreign governments, to address this growing crisis”, said Prof Vivien Lees, a consultant plastic surgeon and the college’s vice-president. 

    Lees said ministers could help by ensuring that the existing cosmetic surgery board certification scheme, which helps patients choose approved cosmetic surgeons for their treatment, becomes mandatory, rather than voluntary as it is now. 

    ALSO READ: UK’s CHOICE BETWEEN EU AND TRUMP 

  • Unhealthy food habits cost UK £268bn a year  

    Unhealthy food habits cost UK £268bn a year  

    The £268bn figure has emerged from the first academic research looking at the cost of Britain’s increasing consumption of food that…reports Asian Lite News

    The UK’s growing addiction to unhealthy food costs £268bn a year, far outstripping the budget for the whole NHS, the first research into the subject has found. 

    The increased consumption of foods high in fat, salt and sugar or which have been highly processed is having a “devastating” impact on human health and Britain’s finances. 

    “Far from keeping us well, our current food system, with its undue deference to what is known colloquially as ‘big food’, is making us sick. The costs of trying to manage that sickness are rapidly becoming unpayable,” the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) report says. 

    The £268bn figure has emerged from the first academic research looking at the cost of Britain’s increasing consumption of food that, according to the government’s system of assessing nutritional quality, is deemed unhealthy. 

    Of that, £92bn covers the direct costs to the government of tackling the impacts of what the FFCC calls “Britain’s unhealthy food system”. It involves spending by the NHS (£67.5bn), social care services (£14.3bn) and the welfare system (£10.1bn) on tackling the diseases closely linked to diet, such as type 2 diabetes, heart problems and kidney disease. 

    The other £176bn is the indirect cost of lost productivity from people who are too sick to work due to diet-related illness (£116.4bn) and “human costs”, such as pain and early death (£60bn). 

    “The £268bn cost is staggering. I was shocked by how high it was when I arrived at it,” said Prof Tim Jackson, an economist at the University of Surrey, who undertook the research for the FFCC. He added: “£268bn is a very, very conservative estimate of these costs.” 

    His findings will increase the pressure on Keir Starmer to take tough action to limit consumption of unhealthy food and fulfil his promises to tackle Britain’s increasingly sick population and revive the crisis-hit NHS. Labour aims to eradicate smoking and has pledged to ban junk food advertising on TV before 9pm and energy drink sales to under-16s. 

    Jackson’s calculations are based on his analysis of a range of publications and projections by the UK government, international bodies such as the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and thinktanks such as the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Tony Blair Institute, covering state spending and the costs of treating chronic diseases, including those closely associated with bad diet. 

    Households across the UK would each have to spend an extra £38 a week – a total of £57bn a year, on top of the £101.5bn a year they already spend – to ensure that everyone followed the healthy diet outlined in the government’s Eatwell guide. That would involve much greater intake of vegetables, fruit and fibre and far less of crisps, snacks and sauces. 

    Doing so would cost the richest households a third more, but for the poorest their weekly spending would double, raising questions about how realistic such expectations are amid widespread food insecurity and the cost of living crisis. 

    Dr Dolly van Tulleken, a Medical Research Council-funded Cambridge University expert in obesity, who contributed to the report, said: “This £268bn cost shows us that we have a food system that privatises the profits and socialises the harms from bad food. It puts a price on the failure of the government stretching back over 30 years to regulate big food.” 

    Sue Pritchard, the FFCC’s chief executive, urged ministers to bring in robust regulation of the food industry. Food firms have sacrificed the health of consumers as they have taken “the fast track to big profits” by using flavours, packaging and clever marketing ploys to encourage people to buy food that harms their health, she said. 

    Ministers should consider giving vouchers to low-income households to buy UK-grown fruit and vegetables, and more support to farmers to produce food, she added. 

    ALSO READ: UK’s CHOICE BETWEEN EU AND TRUMP 

  • Badenoch’s approval ratings worse than Sunak, Johnson 

    Badenoch’s approval ratings worse than Sunak, Johnson 

    Liz Truss is the only former party leader of past five years to rank lower in terms of starting popularity…reports Asian Lite News

    Kemi Badenoch’s personal approval ratings at the start of her Tory leadership are worse than those recorded by Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson at the start of their reigns, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer. 

    The new Tory leader’s net approval rating – the difference between those who approve or disapprove of the job she is doing – sits at -5%. The only former party leader of the past five years that she beats in terms of her starting popularity is Liz Truss, whose first approval rating was -9% after she won the leadership. 

    Badenoch’s net approvals show that she has divided voters, with 20% approving of her and 25% disapproving. About 46% of voters who backed the Tories at the last election say they approve of her, though a third (36%) say they feel neutral. Her approval rating is still far better than the -22% score endured by Sunak at the end of his leadership. 

    Meanwhile, Keir Starmer’s approval rating is low at -24 points, but unchanged from the last poll a fortnight ago. However, he leads Badenoch by 12 percentage points when voters are asked who they regard as the best prime minister. Two weeks ago, when Sunak was still Conservative leader, the gap was seven points. 

    Voters do seem to be aware of Badenoch’s reputation as someone with strong convictions – a quality that recommended her to many Tory MPs, but worried others. Early in her time as leader, voters perceive her as sticking to her principles, being brave and being decisive. The largest gap between Badenoch and Starmer is on bravery, with her net score of +8 contrasting with Starmer’s net score of -19%. 

    It is also the first Opinium poll since president-elect Donald Trump’s US election victory. His return appears to have polarised the UK electorate. Almost a third (30%) feel that Trump’s election is positive for the US, compared with 44% who see it as a bad development. Almost three-quarters (72%) still believe the UK and US have a lot in common, but only 56% consider the country an ally. 

    More than two in five (43%) think the UK should stand up for what we think is right, even if that means breaking with the US on key issues. Just over a third think the level of UK spending on defence and the armed forces is too low. Almost half of UK adults believe Trump’s re-election is a bad thing for Ukraine. 

    James Crouch, head of policy and public affairs research at Opinium, said: “Day-to-day British politics has been overshadowed by the re-election of Donald Trump, which Brits see as good news for rivals like Russia and bad news for Ukraine. However, there’s no sign yet that the public will be pressuring the Labour government to increase defence spending, with two in five opposed to any further tax rises to fund it.”  

    Sunak’s aides advised against early polls 

    Rishi Sunak’s top aides advised him not to call an early election, warning him that voters would be less likely to feel “financially optimistic” in the summer and that Conservatives would not be able to “hit Labour hard with both fists”. 

    Isaac Levido, who directed the election campaign for the Conservatives, and Michael Brooks, a Tory strategist, issued the warning to the former prime minister in a blunt memo on 3 April, seven weeks before the election was called. 

    The pair strongly argued that Sunak should delay the election until after the summer. “It is strategically most beneficial to have an autumn election in October or November,” they explained in the memo, revealed in The Sunday Times. 

    “We need as much time as possible for economic metrics to improve and for voters to feel better off. An earlier election gives us less scope to communicate about economic progress, because voters are less likely to feel financially optimistic.” 

    Calling an election before the summer would remove “potential positive psychological effects of summer”, including those resulting from lower energy bills, holidays, better weather, the Euro 24 football tournament and even the Olympics, according to the memo. 

    The memo acknowledged there was a risk for the Conservatives that a late election “could leave us vulnerable to internal party division and other off-message distractions and policy challenges (eg strikes, increased Channel crossings)”. 

    Sunak and his aides had, by then, given up hoping that the Bank of England would successively cut interest rates. But, the memo argued, going to the country early would mean the Tories would have to communicate more “wedge” issue policies “because we would have less ammunition to fight on the economy”. 

    The memo concluded: “The election will be a fist fight, and we want to be able to throw punches with both fists – our economy fist, and our policy platform/reform fist … in summer, our ability to fight on the economy will be weaker, meaning we will have to punch harder with our reform fist in order to hurt Labour and inject urgency into the campaign. Whereas in autumn, our ability to throw punches on the economy will be stronger, meaning we can hit Labour hard with both fists.” 

    ALSO READ: UK’s CHOICE BETWEEN EU AND TRUMP 

  • UK’s CHOICE BETWEEN EU AND TRUMP 

    UK’s CHOICE BETWEEN EU AND TRUMP 

    Pascal Lamy, former head of the WTO, says Britain will have to take sides if new US administration slaps hefty tariffs on imports, as fears grow over possible trade war…reports Asian Lite News

    The former head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has said that the UK should side with the European Union over trade and economic policies rather than a Donald Trump-led US, as fears grow over a possible global trade war. 

    Pascal Lamy, who was head of the WTO from 2005 to 2013, said it was clear that the UK’s interests lay in staying close to the EU on trade, rather than allying with Trump, not least because it does three times more trade with Europe than the US. 

    His comments came after a key Trump supporter, Stephen Moore, said on Friday that the UK should reject the EU’s “socialist model” if it wanted to have any realistic chance of doing a free trade deal with the US under Trump and, as a result, avoid the 20% tariffs on exports that the president-elect has promised. 

    In an interview with the Observer, Lamy said: “It’s an old question with a new relevance given Brexit and given Trump. In my view the UK is a European country. Its socio- economic model is much closer to the EU social model and not the very hard, brutal version of capitalism of Trump and [Elon] Musk. 

    “We can expect that Trump plus Musk will go even more in this direction. If Trump departs from supporting Ukraine, I have absolutely no doubt that the UK will remain on the European side. 

    “In trade matters, you have to look at the numbers. The trade relationship between the UK and Europe is three times larger than between the UK and US. 

    “This is a very structural inter-dependence which will hardly change unless – which I don’t think is a realistic assumption – the UK will decide to leave the EU norms of standards, to move to the US one. I don’t believe that will happen. 

    “My answer is that the option to unite politically, economically and socially with the US and not with Europe makes absolutely no sense. I believe that, for the UK’s interests and values, the European option remains the dominant one.” 

    Ivan Rogers, the former British ambassador to the EU, said it was clear that after Trump’s re-election the UK would have to choose between the US and EU. “Any free trade agreement that Trump and his team could ever propose to the UK would have to contain major proposals on US access to the UK agricultural market and on veterinary standards. It would not pass Congress without them. If the UK signed on the dotted line, that’s the end of the Starmer proposed veterinary deal with the EU. You can’t have both: you have to choose.” 

    Their remarks come as Keir Starmer heads to Brazil on Sunday for a meeting of the G20 where issues of global security and economic growth are set to dominate. The prime minister is expected to hold talks with President Xi of China, on whose country Trump is proposing slap huge 60% import tariffs. Trade experts expect that the US will demand that the EU and UK follow suit, which both will strongly resist for their own trade reasons. 

    The UK is seeking to increase trade with Beijing while also stepping up efforts to find greater ways to access the EU single market. Last week, the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, made clear that leaving the EU had “weighed” on the domestic economy. 

    A government source said that developing a trade strategy in the new world order was now the top priority. “It has gone from being very important to being number one in the one tray [following Trump’s re-election].” 

    However, João Vale de Almeida, the former EU ambassador to London, said he believed there was common “territory for agreement” which would involve minimal pragmatic deals between the EU and the UK, and the US and the UK. 

    “We know that Trump will try to divide European member states and divide the UK and EU. This is already what [Nigel] Farage is trying to do. But I think we can walk and chew gum at the same. 

    “Given that a fully fledged trade deal with the US is not possible because agricultural issues will get in the way, and an EU deal is limited by UK red lines, any deals will have to be limited. So there may be a way through.” 

    Meanwhile, a top adviser to the US president-elect, Donald Trump, has said the UK should align itself with the American “free enterprise” economic model instead of the “more socialist” European system, as speculation mounts over the terms of a potential transatlantic trade deal. 

    Stephen Moore, a senior economic adviser to Trump, said if the UK moved towards the US model of “economic freedom” there would be more “willingness” by the incoming administration to agree to a trade deal between the two countries. 

    His comments come as Keir Starmer faces competing demands over future trade deals with Washington and Brussels. Some have told the prime minister to pick a side in trade talks between the US and EU while others have suggested he could strike deals with both major players. 

    Speaking to BBC’s Today programme, Moore said: “The UK really has to choose between the Europe economic model of more socialism and the US model, which is more based on a free enterprise system. I think the UK is kind of caught in the middle of these two forms of an economic model. I believe that Britain would be better off moving towards more of the American model of economic freedom. 

    “If that were the case, I think it would spur the Trump administration’s willingness to the free trade agreement with the UK. I think it would make sense for both Britain and the United States.” 

    Previous efforts to agree a UK-US trade deal have been scuppered by rows over agricultural standards, particularly fears over allowing chlorinated chicken or hormone-fed beef on to British supermarket shelves. 

    Moore said: “I think we have the best agriculture centres in the world. So I wouldn’t see that as a problem from this side of the ocean, but I do understand that in Britain. I know the last time I was in London, that was a big issue with many of the British folks I talked to.” 

    Trump has proposed a blanket tariff of at least 10% on all imports, as well as further retaliatory tariffs against countries that place tariffs on US imports. Moore said the blanket tariff was a “fairly popular position with many American voters” but suggested some countries might be exempt.

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  • FARMERS PROTEST 

    FARMERS PROTEST 

    Prime minister hails ‘path of change’ in Wales and Westminster at Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno…reports Asian Lite News

    Keir Starmer said he would defend the budget “all day long” at the Welsh Labour conference, amid protests by farmers outside the venue. In his first address to the Welsh Labour conference since taking power, the prime minister went on to hail a “path of change” with Labour governments in Wales and Westminster. 

    “Make no mistake, I will defend our decisions in the budget all day long,” he said. “I will defend facing up to the harsh light of fiscal reality. “I will defend the tough decisions that would be necessary to stabilise our economy and I will defend protecting the payslips of working people, fixing the foundations of our economy and investing in the future of Britain and the future of Wales, finally turning the page on austerity once and for all.” 

    However, angry farmers held a tractor protest outside the conference opposing the inheritance tax changes the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, unveiled in the budget last month. 

    The protest organisers, Digon yw Digon, said: “Enough is enough. Our government isn’t working or listening to us. This is an opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with farmers and rural communities. 

    “We call on everyone to attend in solidarity – whether by walking, driving or bringing agricultural vehicles such as tractors, slurry tankers, lorries, or 4x4s with trailers.” Gareth Wyn Jones, a Welsh farmer and YouTuber, told Sky News that the government was “destroying” an industry that was already struggling. 

    He said farmers plan to deliver Starmer a letter that starts with the words “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” He said: “They’re destroying an industry that’s already on its knees and struggling, absolutely struggling, mentally, emotionally and physically. We need government support, not more hindrance, so we can produce food to feed the nation.” 

    He also said inheritance tax changes will result in farmers increasing the price of food, adding: “The poorer people in society aren’t going to be able to afford good, healthy, nutritious British food, so we have to push this to government for them to understand that enough is enough, the farmers can’t take any more of what they’re throwing at us.” 

    Meanwhile, Starmer confirmed a £160m investment zone in Wrexham and Flintshire for 2025. During a visit to Airbus in north Wales on Friday with the Welsh first minister, Eluned Morgan, Starmer said it was a “gamechanger” to have Labour governments in both Wales and Westminster. 

    He said communities in Wales and across the UK were ready for an exciting new era, with “Labour Wales and Labour Britain” pulling in the same direction once more and serving the people of Wales with the “full force of our union”. 

    Lady Morgan, who took over as the leader of Welsh Labour in August, touted the “power in partnership” between two Labour governments working together to deliver for the people of Wales. 

    She announced £22m to tackle NHS waiting lists in Wales, in addition to £28m already pledged, while the prime minister described the £21bn 2025 budget allocation for Wales unveiled last month as “a record figure”. 

    Farm income falls 

    Income fell on almost all farm types in England last year, as extreme weather hit yields and the government cut subsidies. 

    Farmers fear future hits to their industry after a hugely unpopular change to agricultural property relief which means some farms will be saddled with a large, unexpected tax bill, and a surprise, severe cut to the EU-derived basic payments scheme meaning a shortfall in cash that they had not predicted. 

    Last year, average farm business income was lower for all farm types except specialist pig farms and specialist poultry farms, figures the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) show. Extreme weather including floods hit farmers hard, causing entire crops to be submerged. Experts said these events were being made more likely by climate breakdown. 

    Cereal farms fared the worst, with a drop in income of 73%. For general cropping farms, the average income was 24% lower. Dairy farm income plummeted by 68%, and on lowland-grazing livestock farms, average income fell by nearly a quarter to £17,300, driven by lower output from crop and sheep enterprises. 

    However, payments under the post-Brexit nature-friendly farming schemes gave farmers a small boost: net income from agri-environmental activities increased by an average of 14% to £10,600. 

    Olly Harrison, who farms cereal near Liverpool, said next year’s numbers were likely to be even worse as the bad weather continued in 2024 and the government was cutting grants to farmers for technology. 

    “That data is a year out of date. We’ve had the worst harvest ever just now for cereals: no sunlight in June, poor planting last autumn, the perfect storm, floods – [income] will go down next year,” he said. “I bet food self-sufficiency has gone down after this last harvest – it’s got to be. I’ve been growing overwintered bird food and deliver for nature, and have the kit and technology to do no-till [farming]. If the government invested we could boost food security and nature.” 

    The UK is about 60% self-sufficient in food and reliant on imports. Harrison is one of the organisers of a mass protest expected to take place in Westminster next week over changes announced in the budget earlier this month. 

    Speaking in parliament, the Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, said the government had “rashly cut the basic payment by 76%. That will hit livestock farmers, upland farmers, dairy farmers and destabilise the whole industry.” 

    Responding, the farming minister, Daniel Zeichner, said the Labour government had given the “biggest boost to sustainable farming that the country has seen”. He said it was “determined to tackle the extreme climate crisis we have globally” by changing the payment schemes. 

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  • Healthcare in Germany Hit by Staff Shortage

    Healthcare in Germany Hit by Staff Shortage

    Approximately 47,400 positions in the healthcare sector could not be filled with suitably qualified candidates between July 2023 and June 2024…reports Asian Lite News

    Germany’s healthcare sector faces the most severe skilled labour shortages among all industries, according to a study released Saturday by the Competence Centre for Securing a Skilled Workforce at the German Economic Institute.

    Approximately 47,400 positions in the healthcare sector could not be filled with suitably qualified candidates between July 2023 and June 2024, it said.

    According to the report, the shortage is particularly acute in physiotherapy, with nearly 11,600 vacant roles. Dental assistants and healthcare and nursing staff are also in high demand, with shortfalls of over 7,340 and nearly 7,100 positions, respectively.

    The healthcare sector has consistently ranked as the most affected by labour shortages in recent years. “An aging population leads to an increasing need for healthcare services. This increases the burden on the existing skilled workers,” the study’s authors noted.

    Across all industries, Germany faced an average shortage of over 530,000 qualified workers between July 2023 and June 2024, said the report, Xinhua news agency reported.

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  • Enfield Prepares for Winter with Enhanced Gritting Fleet and Plans   

    Enfield Prepares for Winter with Enhanced Gritting Fleet and Plans   

    With 1,100 tonnes of gritting salt in stock, the council is well-prepared to keep the borough moving from November through March 2025, as outlined in its Winter Maintenance Plan…reports Asian Lite News

    Enfield Council is gearing up to tackle the challenges of the cold months ahead, with gritting vehicles fully loaded with salt and ready for action at the Morson Road depot. These large, bright yellow trucks are primed to spread grit across the borough’s roads, footways, and public highways, ensuring safe travel during the winter season. 

    With 1,100 tonnes of gritting salt in stock, the council is well-prepared to keep the borough moving from November through March 2025, as outlined in its Winter Maintenance Plan. 

    The gritting fleet is equipped with cutting-edge routing and salt-spreading software, supported by satellite navigation. This technology allows operatives to plan and execute gritting routes with precision, recording where, when, and how much grit is used to ensure efficiency and prevent wastage. 

    In extreme conditions, the gritting vehicles can also be fitted with snow ploughs, enabling them to clear snow from roads and keep vital routes accessible. 

    The Council’s investment in advanced technology ensures optimal coverage of 129 miles of road network every time the fleet heads out. These priority areas include: 

    • Principal roads and main commuter routes 

    • All bus routes 

    • Access routes to emergency services 

    • Main industrial areas 

    Cabinet Member for Transport and Waste, Cllr Rick Jewell, recently visited the Morson Road depot to review Enfield’s robust winter readiness plan. 

    Cllr Jewell stated: “Every year, we prepare months in advance for the cold weather to ensure our operatives and fleet of gritters are ready to go out into the borough at the right times, while continually consulting with Met Office weather forecasts. 

    “Every time one of our fleet of gritters leaves the depot, it spreads grit on approximately 129 miles of the borough’s network to help keep residents, drivers, and pedestrians safe.” 

    The Council is maintaining a vigilant eye on weather patterns, monitoring forecasts 24 hours a day to ensure rapid responses to sudden changes. 

    Enfield’s proactive approach ensures that: Roads remain navigable during icy or snowy conditions; Gritting operations target the most critical areas, including emergency service facilities and industrial zones and Resources are used efficiently to minimize waste and maximize safety. 

    As winter sets in, Enfield Council’s comprehensive preparations and state-of-the-art gritting fleet stand ready to ensure the borough stays safe and connected, whatever the weather brings. 

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