Newslinks for Thursday 8th January 2026

Badenoch: My blueprint to save Britain’s pubs

“Kemi Badenoch pledged to abolish business rates for thousands of pubs as she backed The Telegraph’s campaign to save Britain’s locals. Writing for The Telegraph, the Tory leader also vowed to slash the average pub’s energy bills by £1,000 under plans to reverse Labour’s raid on the local. The Telegraph has launched a campaign to save the UK’s pubs, calling on Labour to stop its assault on the sector and cut tax and red tape. Politicians and celebrity landlords, including Tom Kerridge, the TV chef, and James May, the former Top Gear presenter, have backed the campaign, piling pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to abandon tax rises that are pushing pubs to the brink.” – Daily Telegraph

• Pubs may get bailouts as business rate rise leaves many facing closure – The Times
• Furious pub landlords threaten to go on strike – Daily Mail
• Bar-mageddon – The Sun
• The pub landlords bearing the brunt of Labour’s war on locals – Daily Telegraph

Comment

UK targets Putin’s shadow fleet after helping US seize tanker

“Britain will scale up action against President Putin’s shadow fleet, having helped the United States to seize an oil tanker bound for Russia after a ¬weeks-long pursuit. Marinera, previously known as Bella 1, was captured by US forces in the North Atlantic on Wednesday in an operation involving UK spy planes and a Royal Navy support ship. Sources told The Times that the UK had been helping the US to plan the mission for as long as a week after the tanker slipped through a maritime blockade of Venezuela. It could prove a new flashpoint in relations between the West and Moscow, whose transport ministry complained that the international law of the sea had been breached.” – The Times

• UK helped US seize Russian-flagged tanker, defence ministry says – Guardian
• British forces help US capture ‘Russian’ tanker – Daily Telegraph
• Uproar over Starmer’s plan for UK troops in Ukraine – Daily Express
• MPs will vote on any troop deployment in Ukraine, Starmer says – FT
• Russia could cripple Britain by cutting just 60 undersea cables carrying nearly all UK data – Daily Mail
• Coalition of the willing must be ‘robust’ to deal with Russia, warns ex-US general – Guardian
• PM ‘sets out his position’ on Greenland threats in call with Trump – Daily Mail

Comment

>Today:

>Yesterday:

Twenty-two Labour councils set to delay local elections

“Labour is poised to postpone elections in 22 areas as Reform UK continues to ride high in the polls. An investigation by The Telegraph has revealed that the party has decided to delay this May’s elections in five areas and is considering doing so in a further 17. Only four Labour authorities have ruled out delays. By contrast, only two Conservative councils and one Liberal Democrat council favour a delay, and seven Tory areas and eight Lib Dem districts have ruled them out. Steve Reed, the Communities Secretary, said last month that he would give 63 areas the opportunity to postpone polls due in May until 2027 to allow them to concentrate on local government reorganisation.” – Daily Telegraph

>Today:

Crime spree by Met Police officers waved through in diversity push

“A diversity panel at Britain’s biggest police force overturned vetting refusals, which led to rogue officers and staff committing rapes, assaults and drug offences, a review has found. The Metropolitan Police introduced a vetting panel in 2019 after noticing that applicants who were refused entry to the force were disproportionately from ethnic minority backgrounds and under-represented groups. The panel reviewed 505 cases of applicants who had failed the vetting process first time round and overturned 114 refusal notices. More than one in five of those officers — 25 in total — went on to commit misconduct and criminal offences.” – The Times

• Rapists and violent thugs were hired by the Met as full checks were axed – Daily Mail
• Police watchdog to probe Met’s vetting standards – FT
• Starmer’s jury reforms face 12 angry MPs – The Times

Labour’s workers’ rights reforms to cost businesses £1bn a year

“Labour’s workers’ rights reforms will cost businesses an extra £1bn a year, new government estimates show – even after Sir Keir Starmer’s climbdown late last year. Bosses are to be burdened with higher costs by a range of tougher employment rights on issues such as sick pay, paternity leave and the end of zero hours contracts. However, the £1bn a year bill is much lower than the £5bn previously estimated by Whitehall officials after Sir Keir, the Prime Minister, abandoned a flagship pledge tied to the reforms. The Government announced in November that it would no longer allow employees to sue for unfair dismissal on day one of their employment, following a backlash from businesses. It will now apply after six months. This about-turn led to the Employment Rights Act – which was initially championed by Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister – receiving Royal Assent in December.” – Daily Telegraph

• And rent reforms ‘will cost commercial landlords £11bn’ – Daily Telegraph

Reeves condemns Farage opposition to lifting two-child benefit cap

“Rachel Reeves has said she was angered by Nigel Farage’s suggestion that only British-born families should have the two-child benefit cap lifted, saying the Reform UK leader would keep children in poverty based on their skin colour. The Chancellor, who will introduce legislation to lift the cap on Thursday, said it had been a burden for her not to be able to do so sooner, but it had been vital to do it at a moment of market stability. Farage told a press conference on Wednesday that his party would vote against the scrapping of the two-child limit, having previously suggested he could back the change. He said he was concerned it would “benefit huge numbers of foreign-born people”. – Guardian

• Abu Dhabi paid for Farage to meet senior UAE officials – FT

Other political news and comment

• Jewish community ‘frustrated’ with police over handling of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans ban – Guardian
• Cambridge college to target elite private schools for student recruitment – Guardian
• MPs who use AI are ruining Parliament – Eliot Wilson, Daily Telegraph
• PMQs has morphed into the worst aspect of British politics – Tom Harris, Daily Telegraph
• Smaller farms in England to be prioritised for nature funding – Guardian
• Film makers in row with council over Nazi flags – The Times

News in Brief